WADE'S MILL

A vill. in Herts. on the Ribb, 2 m. N. of Ware on the North Road. In Hester (Anon. Plays ii. 268), Pride says, "Now by W. M. every man's will is wondrously well." In Dekker's Northward v. 1, Mayberry is informed by Bellamont: "he imagines that your wife is rode to Puckeridge; 5 m further [i.e. from Ware]; either at Puckeridge or W. M., saith he, you shall find them"; later on in the scene Doll says, "I will be as true to thee as Ware and W. M. are one to another."

WAKEFIELD

A town in the West Riding, Yorks., on the Calder, 9 m. S. of Leeds and 175 N. of Lond. It was the most important town in the Riding during our period, and was twice the size of Leeds or Bradford. It was famous, according to Camden, "for its cloth trade, largeness, neat buildings, and great markets." The most notable buildings were the Parish Ch. with its fine spire, erected in the 14th cent.; the chantry of St. Mary on the bridge over the Calder, built about 1360, but restored and endowed by Edward IV in memory of his father, Richd. of York, who was killed in the battle of W. in 1460; and the Grammar School, founded in 1592. W. is famous in the history of the Drama as being the place where the Towneley M. P. were performed; the whole cycle of 32 has happily been preserved. It was also the home of George (or John) a Greene, the Pinner of W., whose fight with Robin Hood is commemorated in the old Ballad. He was the keeper of the Town Pound, and gives his name to the anonymous play George a Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield, in which the story of the fight is related.

In J. Heywood's Weather, p. 100, Merry Report claims to have been at W. In Wilkins Enforced Marriage'., the Butler informs Katharine that she must go "Toward W., where my master's living lies." In H6 C. ii. 1, 107, Warwick brings word of "the bloody fray at W. fought"; it is the subject of the last 2 scenes of Act I. In True Trag., prol., p. 52, Truth says, "At W. in a battle pitcht. Outrageous Richd. breathed his latest breath"; i.e. Richd. of York. On p. 13, York says, "I'll to W. to my castle." The reference is to Sandal Castle, near W., q.v. In George a Greene i. 2, the Earl of Kendall, who is in rebellion against K.. Edward, sends to W. for provisions; but George, "right pinner of W. town," tears up his commission and thus highly honours "W. town"; later on in the play his fight with Robin Hood takes place and Robin asks him. "Wilt thou forsake W. and go with me?" Drayton, Polyolb. xxviii., speaks of Robin Hood's "merry man, the Pindar of the town Of W., George a Greene, whose fames so far are blown For their so valiant fight." Braithwaite, in Strappado for Devil (1615), commemorates "merry W., and her Pindar too"; and his May-games "Yearly presented upon W. Green." In Downfall Huntington iii. 2. Robin Hood says, "Wanton W.'s Pinner loved us well." In Swetnam iii. 1, Valentine says, "Robin Hood and the Pinder of W. had not a stiffer bout." There was a tavern in Gray's Inn Road, Lond., named "The Pinder of W."(q.v.).

WALACHIA

The southern of the 2 provinces of Roumania, lying on the N. bank of the Danube, between Hungary and Bulgaria. The name Vlachs, or Wallacks (ie. foreigners, Welsh) was originally applied to all the Slavonic peoples of the Balkan dist. W., lying between the Turkish and the Hungarian kingdoms, was constantly involved in their wars; taking sometimes one, sometimes the other, side according to circumstances. It reached the highest point of its fame in the reign of Michael the Brave (1593–1601), who drove out the Turks and made himself Prince of Roumania and Transylvania. In Chaucer's Death of Duchess 1024, the poet praises the Duchess because she did not impose such tests upon her admirers as sending "men into Walakye, To Pruyse and into Tartarye" to win fame in the wars there against the heathen and other enemies of the Faith. In Middleton's R. G. v. 1, Trapdoor claims to have served "in Hungary against the Turk at the siege of Belgrade" in company with "many Hungarians, Moldavians, Vallachians, and Transylvanians."

WALBROOK

A street in Lond., running from the Poultry into Cannon St. It was named from the W., a stream that ran down from Finsbury into the Thames. Originally a fresh stream, it became in course of time nothing but an open sewer, and before the end of Elizabeth's reign had been entirely vaulted over. The st. was chiefly occupied by furriers. Immediately behind the Mansion House is the Ch. of St. Stephen's W., rebuilt by Wren after the Gt. Fire, and one of the best of his churches. Stow, in Survey of London, says, "Walbrooke . . . is now in most places built upon, that no man may by the eye discern it, and, therefore, the trace thereof is hardly known to the common people."

WALES

(Wh.=Welsh, Wen.=Welshmen, Wan.= Welshman). The country to the west of England, between the estuaries of the Severn and the Dee. The inhabitants are the descendants of the Britons who were driven West by the Angles and Saxons, at the time of the English conquest of Britain. They maintained constant conflicts against the English, and succeeded in keeping their independence under their native princes until conquered and united with England by Edward I in 1277. His son, Edward II, was born at Carnarvon, and made Prince of W.; and the title has since been conferred on the eldest son of the English kings. The country is very mountainous, the highest peak being Snowdon. The language is a branch of the Celtic group, but English is largely, in the Eastern parts often solely, spoken.

General References. In H4 A. i. 1, 37, Westminster announces: "There came a post from W. Laden with heavy news." In iii. 1, 45, Glendower asks, "Where is he living, clipped in with the sea That chides the banks of England, Scotland, W., Which calls me pupil?" In iii. 1, 76, "All westward, W. beyond the Severn shore" is assigned to Glendower. In iv. 3, 95, Hotspur blames the K. for allowing Mortimer "to be enraged in W." In v. 5, 39, the K. declares that he will march "towards W., To fight with Glendower and the Earl of March." In H4 B. i. 2, 119, Falstaff says, "I hear his Majesty is returned with some discomfort from W." In ii. 1, 189, he asks, "Comes the K. back from W.?" In ii. 4, 318, the Hostess asks Prince Henry, "O Jesu, are you come from W.?" In R3 iv. 5, 7, Urswick brings word that Richmond is "At Pembroke or at Ha'rfordwest in W." In Cym. iii. 2, 62, Imogen says, "Tell me how W. was made so happy as To inherit such a haven" as Milford. In Ford's Warbeck ii. 3, K. James speaks of Henry VII as "this Wh. Harry"; Henry was born at Pembroke Castle.

The Mountainous character of the country. In B. & F. Wild Goose v. 6, Belleur says, "I'll travel into W., amongst the mtns., In hope they cannot find me." In Jonson's Wales, the Wh. mountains are styled "the British Aulpes," and the names of the chief of them are enumerated. In Pilg. Pernass. i. 1, Logic-land is described as "much like W., full of craggy mountains and thorny vallies." Historical references. In H4 B. i. 3, 79, the Wh. are said to be in league with the rebel lords. In R2 iii. 2, 73, Salisbury reports the departure of Richd.'s Wh. adherents to Bolingbroke; and in iii. 3, 2, Bolingbroke says, "We learn the Wen. are dispersed." In H6 C. ii. 1, 180, Warwick speaks of the help the Earl of March can secure "amongst the loving Wen.," to fight against the Lancastrians. In R3 iv. 3, 47, Catesby brings word "Buckingham, backed with the hardy Wen., Is in the field."

THE HISTORY OF THE TITLE "PRINCE OF WALES"

The title Prince of W. was first given to the native chiefs of W. before the English conquest. It was conferred upon the infant Edward II by his father, in pursuance of his promise to give the Wh. a native-born prince who could not speak a word of English. The young Prince was born in Carnarvon in 1284. Edward III never received the title, but he conferred it on the Black Prince, and since then it has always been the title of the heir apparent to the British throne. It is not, however, hereditary, but is conferred by patent and investiture. In Peele's Ed. I, Lluellen is called "Prince of W." in the earlier part of the play; but later the birth of Edward II is described, and the Bp. presents him to the K. as "your young son, Edward of Carnarvon, Prince of W." In Greene's Friar viii., Prince Edward, son of Henry III, soliloquizes: "Edward, art thou that famous Prince of W. Who at Damasco beat the Saracens?" This is an anticipation of later usage, as Edward I was never Prince of W. By the same anticipation in Chapman's [Peele's?] Alphonsus i. 2, 156, Bohemia calls prince Edward "Edward the Prince of W." His marriage to Hedewick, the Saxon princess, is pure fiction. In H5 ii. 4, 56, the French K. speaks of "That black name, Edward, black prince of W." In iv. 7, 97, Fluellen reminds the K. of "your great-uncle Edward, the Plack Prince of W." In H6 B. ii. 2, 11, York says, "Edward the Third had 7 sons; the first, Edward the Black Prince, Prince of W." In R2 ii. 1, 172, York says to the K.: "I am the last of noble Edward's sons Of whom thy father, Prince of W., was first"; i.e. the Black Prince. In H4 A. i. 3, 230, Hotspur calls Henry "that same sword-and-buckler Prince of W." In ii. 4, 11, Henry says, "Though I be but Prince of W., yet am I the k. of courtesy." In iv. 1, 95, Hotspur calls him "The nimble-footed madcap Prince of W." In H4 B. ii. 1, 146, Gower calls him "Harry, Prince of W." In R3 i. 3, 199, Q. Margaret says to Q. Elizabeth: "Edward thy son, which now is Prince of W. For Edward my son, which was Prince of W., Die in his youth by like untimely violence!" In Ford's Warbeck iii. 3, Ursley speaks of the "marriage 'twixt the Lady Katharine . . . and the Prince of W., your son." This was Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII. In S. Rowley's When You B. i. the K., Henry VIII, says to Jane Seymour: "Be but a mother to a Prince of W . . . . And thou mak'st full my hopes." In Jonson's Wales, there are several references to Charles as "Prince of W."

The patron Saint of W. is St. David, not, of course, the K. of Israel, but the Bp. of Menevia who died about A.D. 600. St. David's Day is on 1st March, when all good Wen. wear the leek, in memory of the W. victory over the Saxons in 640, when they wore a leek in their caps (see H5 v. 1, passim). In Jonson's Wales, Evan sings, "Sing the deeds of old Sir Davy, The 'ursip of which would fill a navy." In Kirke's Champions i. 1, David appears and says, "David will the Britain's name defend"; and again "David of W. from Brute descended is." In Club Law iv. 4, Davie says, "Saint Tavie is a Wh. man born." In Dekker's Northward ii. 1, the Capt. swears "by all the leeks that are worn on St. Davy's day." In Sampson's Vow i. 4, 6, Ursula says of old German: "His head's like a Welchman's crest on St. Davie's day"; i.e. as white as a leek. In B. & F. Thierry v. 1, the 4th soldier, pretending to be a Wan., says, "St. Tavy be her patron . . . may she never want the green of the leek!" In W. Rowley's Match Mid. i. 2, Randall, the Wan., apparently mistakes the national saint for K. David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel; for he says the hills near Kingston "are no more near mtns. in W. than Clim o' the Clough's bow to hur cozen David's harp."

Welsh men and women in the plays. In M.W.W. ii. 1, 209, Sir Hugh Evans is called "Sir Hugh the Wh. priest." In iii. 1, 100, the Host addresses him and Caius as "Gallia and Gaul, French and Wh." In v. 3, 13, Mrs. Ford calls him "the Wh. devil, Hugh." In H4 A. iii. 1, Mortimer's wife is represented as a Welshwoman, unable to speak English. She was the daughter of Glendower, who was the great-grandson of Llewellyn, the last of the native princes of W. Glendower, in H4 A., is "that Wan." In R2 ii. 4, 5, the Capt. is addressed as "Thou trusty Wan." In H5 Fluellen is a Wan.: "There is much care and valour in this Wan." says Henry in iv. 1, 36. In iv. 1, 51, K. Henry says, "I am a Wan." He was born at Monmouth; and in iv. 7, 112, Fluellen rejoices that "all the water in the Wye cannot wash your Majesty's Wh. plood out of your pody." In R3 iv. 2, 477, Richd. calls Richmond "the Wan."–referring to his descent from Owen Tudor and his birth at Pembroke. Randall, in W. Rowley's Match Mid., is a Wan.; his full name being "Randal William ap Thomas ap Tavy ap Robert ap Rice ap Sheffery Crack." A Welshwoman of loose character is introduced in Middleton's Chaste Maid and is married to Tim. Other Welshmen are found in B. & F. Nightwalker, Jonson's Wales, Shirley's Love Tricks, Dekker's Northward, Armin's Moreclacke, Chettle's Grissil and Club Law.

Welsh National Characteristics. Heylyn (s.v. W.) says, "The men are of a faithful carriage, one especially towards another in a strange country; and to strangers in their own. They are questionless of a temper much inclining to choler; quickly moved and soon appeased; of all angers the best and noblest." Boorde, in Intro. of Knowledge ii., describes the Wh. as lovers of thieving; they are "gentlemen and come of Brute's blood"; they go bare-legged and wear grey coats; they "love cawse boby, good roasted cheese" and drink metheglin; they play the harp, which is made of mares' skin and horse-hair, and they sing like humble-bees; they have store of prophecies in rhyme. They are poor and badly lodged; and they constantly swear by the Devil. Several specimens of their language are given. In Barry's Ram iv. 1, Sir Oliver says, "English love Scots, Wen. love each other." Drayton, in Polyolb. vi. 243, says of the Wen.: "In all the world no nation is so dear As they unto their own; that here within this isle . . . The noble Briton still his countryman relieves." The Wh. prided themselves on being the descendants of the ancient Britons, and Briton is often used in the sense of a Wan. In Dekker's Westward ii. 2, Birdlime says, "Welchmen love to be called Britons." In Webster's Cuckold iv. 1, when Compass bids the boy not to put metheglin into his alicant, he replies, "Not a drop, as I am true Briton." The Wh. all claimed to be gentlemen by descent and took great interest in heraldry. In Jonson's New Inn ii. 2, the Host calls the Nurse who is vouching for Frank Sylly's good family "an old Wh. herald's widow; she's perfect in most pedigrees, most descents." In Marston's Malcontent iii. 1, Bilioso says, "Your Lordship Shall ever find amongst an hundred Welchmen Fourscore and nineteen gentlemen." In B. & F. Fair Maid I. iv. 2, the Clown says, "All the devils' names he calls upon are but fustian names, gathered out of Wh. heraldry." In Davenant's Cr. Brother iii. 5, Castruchio says, "A synagogue of Wh. Rabbies could not express more skill in genealogies." In Tomkis' Albumazar ii. 4, Trincalo proposes to "buy a bouncing pedigree of a Welch herald." Earle, in Microcos. xlvi., says of the Herald: "He is an art in England but in W. nature, where they are born with heraldry in their mouths, and each name is a pedigree." In Noble Soldier iii. 3, Baltasar says, "I can be a chimney-sweeper with the Irish, a gentleman with the Wh." In Val. Welsh. iii. 1, Morgion asks, "When did you hear a gentleman of W. tell lies?" In Armin's Moredacke F. 1, Tutch, disguised as a Wh. knight, says, "Was a knight, marg you, of Englise in W., Walse blood, and 'tis no mock in en to marry in Welse blood, is it?" In Dekker's Match me iii., Gazetto says, "If I should brag gentility, I'd gabble Welch." In his Raven's, he says, "He was no Wan. to faint at sight of his own blood "i.e. because it was gentle, or royal, blood. In W. Rowley's Match Mid. iii. 1, Randall says, "Was all shentlemen in W." In his Shoemaker iii. 2, 194, when Hugh says, "I am a Welchman, sir," Barnaby replies "Nay then, thou canst not choose but be a gentleman."

The Wh. were reputed to be thieves–as in the rhyme "Taffy was a Wan., Taffy was a thief." In Marston's Malcontent i. 7, Passarello says, "The Wen. stole rushes, when there was nothing else to filch; only to keep begging in fashion." In Middleton's Gipsy ii. 1, Alvarez says that his gipsies do not "lie in ambuscado for a rope of onions as if they were Wh. freebooters." In B. & F. Thierry v. 1, the 4th soldier says, "Did you doubt but we could steal as well as yourself?–did I not speak Wh.?"

The Wh. were supposed to be especially fond of cheese; cf. the phrase "a Wh. rabbit," which means toasted cheese on bread. In M.W.W. ii. 2, 317, Ford says, "I will rather trust Parson Hugh the Wan. with my cheese than my wife with herself." In Day's Humour iii. 1, Florimel says she loves Aspero "as a Wan. doth toasted cheese; I cannot dine without him." In Middleton's Changeling i. 2, Lollio says, "There's no hope of recovery of that Wh. madman; was undone by a mouse that spoiled him a parmasant; lost his wits for it." In Dekker's Northward ii. 1, Jenkins says, "There is toasted seese and buttermilk in N. W., Diggon, besides harps and Wh. frieze and goats and cow-heels and metheglin." In iii. 1, Doff says, "If you should but get 3 or 4 Cheshire cheeses and set them a running down Highgate Hill," the Wh. Captain would make haste after them. In Chaunticleers iv., Heath says, "The moon would willingly be that the Wen. wish it, so thou wouldst give it room among thy cheeses." In Jonson's Gipsies, Jacman introduces a boy who was born in Flintshire and "rocked in a cradle of Wh. cheese like a maggot." In his Barthol. iv. 4, Waspe calls Bristle "a Wh. cuckold," and adds "You stink of leek, metheglin, and cheese, you rogue!" In Webster's Law Case v. 4, Julio tells of a Wan. whose fencing-master could only make him fight by putting a button of cheese on the end of his own foil; "that made him come on the liveliest!" In B. & F. Pilgrim iv. 3, the Wh. madman cries; "Give me some ceeze and onions"; and the Master says of him: "He run mad because a rat eat up his cheese."

The national drink of W. was metheglin, a sort of mead flavoured with herbs. In Massinger's Great Duke ii. 2, Petruchio speaks contemptuously of "Wh. metheglin, a drench to kill a horse." In Jonson's Wales, Evan sings of "our Welse drink . . . a cup of Bragat . . . as well as Metheglin." Bragat is a sort of spiced ale mixed with honey. In Middleton's Quiet Life i. 1, Water-Canilet says, "I was got foxed with foolish metheglin in the company of certain Wh. chapmen." In Webster's Cuckold iv. 1, Compass bids the boy who is bringing wine, "Do not make it speak Wh., boy"; and explains: "Put no metheglin in it, ye rogue!" In W. Rowley's Match Mid. ii., Randall calls for "some metheglin, the wine of W." In M.W.W. v. 5, 167, Evans charges Falstaff with being given to "sack and wine and metheglins."

In Dekker's Satiro iv. 3, 184, Sir Vaughan says that Tucca's sword is "as blunt as a Wh. bag-puddmg." In H4 i. 1, 45, Westmoreland tells of the beastly shameless transformation done on the corpses of their enemies "by those Welshwomen." In Dekker's Honest Wh. B. i. 1, Lodovico says, "There's a saying when they commend nations; it goes, the Irishman for his hand, the Wan. for a leg, the Englishman for a face, the Dutchman for a beard."

Welsh dress. Wh. hose were baggy breeches which would fit any leg. Skelton, in Colin Clout 773, says, that the Friars "Make a Wan.'s hose Of the text and of the glose." Sackville, in Mirror for Magistrates, Fall of Tressillian 88, says, "The laws we turned by construction to a Wan.'s hose." The Monmouth cap was a brimless cap, like a Scotch bonnet. In T. Heywood's Lucrece iii. 5, Valerius sings:" The Wh. his Monmouth loves to wear And of the same will brag too."

The national instrument was the Harp. In W. Rowley's Match Mid. iv. 1, Sim reads from Randall the Wan.'s letter: "She shall go to church a Sunday with a whole dozen of Wh. harps before hur." In Jonson's Wales, Evan says, "You s'all hear the true Pritan strains now, the ancient Welse harp." In Shirley's Love Tricks ii. 2, Jenkins says, "Was make joys and gratulations for her good fortune upon her Wh. harps." In Dekker's If it be, Brisco speaks of "whole swarms of Wh. harps, Irish bagpipes." In Kirke's Champions iv. 1, Denis reads a prophecy: "The Fleur de Lys and Harp must join Before the riddle you untwine "; i.e. the champions of France and W. must unite.

There is a Wh. Dance in Jonson's Wales. In W. Rowley's Match Mid. iii., Alexander says to Moll: "Go thy ways and lead a Wh. morris with the apes in hell amongst the little devils," i.e. be an old maid. Wh. Carriers came regularly to Lond., where they had their head-quarters at Bosom's Inn, in Laurence Lane. In Middleton's Family iv. 2, Dryfat asks, "Art thou a Wh. carrier, thou'rt so saucy?"

There was a tradition in W. that Merlin was conceived by miracle without any father; and certain Wen. claimed the gift of prophecy on the same ground. In H4 B. iv. 4, 122, Gloucester refers to these "unfathered heirs." In B. & F. Pilgrimage i. 1, Lazaro says, "These horses are a kind of Wh. prophets: nothing can be hid from 'em."

The Wh. Benefices were poor, and the clergy mostly ignorant. In Barry's Ram iii. 2, Smallshanks says, "He swears that few be free from Simony, but only Wen. and those he says too are but mtn. priests."

The Wh. Language is a branch of the Celtic family of the Indo-Germanic group. It was unintelligible to English people, and sounded harsh to their ears. Heylyn (s.v. WALES) says, "The Wh. language hath the least com-mixture with foreign words of any used in Europe, and by reason of its many consonants is less pleasing." In H4 A. iii. 1, Lady Mortimer speaks Wh. and sings a Wh. song; but the words are not given. In line 232, when Glendower invokes the spirits of music from the air, Hotspur exclaims: "Now I perceive the devil understands Wh." In Jonson's Wales, several sentences in Wh. are put into the mouths of the actors. In Middleton's Chaste Maid iv. 1, the Welshwoman uses an alleged Wh. sentence: "Avederra whee comrage, der due cog foginis." In B. & F. Thomas iii. 3, Thomas says, "Let thy fiddle speak Wh. or any thing that's out of tune." In Webster's White Devil iii. 1, after Vittoria has protested against the use of Latin in her trial, the lawyer says, ` Exorbitant sins must have exulceration "; and Vittoria mockingly comments, "Why, this is Wh. to Latin," i.e. more unintelligible still. In Heywood's King's and Queen's Entertainment, one of the stage directions says, "Welch, which they say is the old British language." In Dekker's Lanthorn, he says that, before the confusion of languages, there was "no voluble, significant Wh." In Wilson's Inconstant ii. 1, Pantarbo, who is pretending to be mad, says, "I would I could speak Welch, that's a mad language." In Marston's What You iii. 1, Holofernes says, "I think your Majesty's a Welchman; you have a horrible long name." The length of Wh. names is still a matter for jokes.

The Wh. pronunciation of English is often introduced for the fun of it. It is chiefly characterised by the sharpening of all the flat mutes and the sibilants, and the addition of "s" to many words; "she" and "hur" are used for the 1st personal pronoun. Examples may be found in the speeches of Evans in M.W.W. and Fluellen in H5, as well as in the plays mentioned above in which Wh. folk are introduced; e.g. Evans says, "It is petter that friends is the sword and end it. There is also another device in my prain which peradventure prings goot discretions with it."

The mtns. of W. afford pasturage to numerous goats. In M.W.W. v. 5, 145, Falstaff, referring to Evans, says, "Am I ridden with a Wh. goat too?" In Jonson's Wales, there is a dance by men dressed as goats, and Jenkin says, "The Welse goat is an excellent dancer by birth." In Dekker's Northward v. 1, Capt. Jenkins says, "This 'oman hunts at his tail, like your little goats in W. follow their mother." In H5 v. 1, 30, Pistol swears that he will not eat the leek offered him by Fluellen, "Not for Cadwallader and all his goats!"

Wh. Mutton was, and is, particularly good. In Middleton's Chaste Maid iv. 1, Tim says, "There's nothing tastes so sweet as your Wh. mutton." In Jonson's Wales, Rheese sings, "Once but taste of the Welse mutton, Your English seep's not worth a button."

Wh. flannels and friezes were famous. In M.W.W. v. 5, 145, Falstaff, referring to Evans, says, "Shall I have a coxcomb of Friexe?" and in 172, he admits "I am not able to answer the Wh. flannel." In B. & F. Nightwalker iii. 6, Maria, pretending to be a Welshwoman, says, "Her was milk the cows, make seese and butters, and spin very well the Wh. freeze." In Jonson's Wales, Howell sings the praise of Wh. Frieze. In Swetnam iii. 1, Curfew says, "Th'are but wh. freizes, they would shrink at the sense of iron." In Brewer's Lingua iii. 5, the fantastical gull's apparel includes "a Wh. Frieze. jerkin." In Cuckqueans v. 9, Pigot deprecates the demand for poetical language in a comedy as equivalent to desiring to "add gold lace to a Welchman's Frieze." In Peele's Ed. I x., the Wh. barons present the new-born Prince of W. with "a mantle of Frieze," to the great indignation of the proud Spanish Q. Elinor.

Various things called Welsh.

WALFLEET

(more fully, W. ISLAND). A peninsula between Paglesham and the river Crouch, near Rochford in Essex. It was famous, like Colchester, for its oysters. In W. Rowley's New Wonder iii., Stephen cries "Oysters, new W. oysters!" Drayton, in Polyolb. xix. 126, speaks of "Pure W., which do still the daintiest palates please and in a note explains that he means "W. oysters."

WALKER

(i.e. WALCHEREN). An island in Zealand the chief towns of which are Flushing and Middleburg. Gascoigne, in Dulce Bellum 133, says of the Gueux: "All Walker's theirs." He is referring to the campaign against Alva in 1574–5.

WALKINGTON

A small parish in Yorksh. In 1576 a certain Robert Greene was presented to the rectory of Walkington; he may have been the dramatist of that name, though it is far from certain.

WALL

See LONDON WALL.

WALLES

See WALES.

WALLINGFORD

A mkt. town in Berksh, 15 m. N.West of Reading. It possesses a strong castle, built by Robert D'Oyley in 1067. It was near W. that the peace of 1153 was concluded between Stephen and Henry, son of the Countess Maud, afterwards Henry II. Hardly anything remains of the castle. W. is in the list of places visited by Merry Report in J. Heywood's Weather, p. 100.

WALLOONS

The inhabitants of S.E. Belgium, in the basin of the Meuse. They are the descendants of the ancient Belgae, and speak a Romance dialect closely akin to the Langue d'Oil of N. France. They constitute about half the population of Belgium, the other half being Flemings. In H6 A. i. 1, 137, the Messenger describes the wounding of Talbot thus: "A base Walloon, to win the Dauphin's grace, Thrust Talbot with a spear into the back." In ii. 1, 10, Talbot says, "Redoubted Burgundy, by whose approach The regions of Artois, Walloon, and Picardy Are friends to us." In Day's B. Beggar i., Momford speaks of Hance Beamart: "the Walloon captain, that betrayed The fort of Guynes." In Noble Soldier iii. 3, Baltasar says, "I can be treacherous with the Wallowne, a chimney sweeper with the Irish, a gentleman with the Welsh." In Larum F. i., Stumpe says, "If any man hate a man, call him but Wallon, the Spaniards cut his throat." In Middleton's Mad World ii. 1, Sir Bounteous says his organ music cannot but be good, for "a Walloon plays upon them." The Belgian school of organ-music led the world in the 16th cent.

WALL'S, MOTHER

A famous pie-shop in Abchurch St., London (q.v.).

WALSINGHAM

The name of 2 adjoining villages in Norfolk on the Stiffkey, 28 m. N.West of Norwich; they are distinguished as Old (or Great) and New (or Little) W., At Old W. was the famous shrine of the Virgin Mary, which was more frequented by pilgrims than any other in England, or perhaps in Europe. The original chapel was erected in 1061 by the widow of Ricoldie de Faverches, and was an exact copy of the Santa Casa of Nazareth, which was said to have been transported to Loretto. A Priory of Augustinians was shortly afterwards founded by Geoffroi de Faverches. Some ruins still remain of the Abbey Ch.; and the two Wishing Wells are where they were in the old times. The shrine was greatly enriched by the Plantagenet Kings; and Henry VIII walked barefoot thither from Barsham and presented a costly necklace to the image of the Virgin; but this did not prevent him from dissolving the monastery, appropriating the treasures of the Chapel, and burning the image of the Virgin in 1538. A full account of the shrine and its wonders may be found in Erasmus, Peregrinatio Religionis Ergo. A popular ballad beginning "As ye came from the Holy Land Of blessed W." is contained in Percy's Reliques ii. 1. The tune to which it was set was sung and whistled everywhere. Brooches and leaden rings were brought away by the pilgrims and were held to be efficacious against diseases of various kinds. Our Lady of W. was frequently the subject of adjuration; hence the phrase "to swear W." came to mean to swear violently and earnestly. The Milky Way was popularly called W. Way, and was supposed to point towards the shrine, though more probably it was named from the crowd of stars resembling the throngs of pilgrims.

In Piers C. i. 32, we read: "Eremytes on an hep with hokede staves Wenten to Walsyngham and hure wenches after." In J. Heywood's Weather, p. 100. W. is one of the places visited by Merry Report. In his Four PP i. 1, the Palmer says he has made a pilgrimage "to W." In T. Heywood's Dialogues i. 394, Adolphos says, "If I can but get to land safe, pilgrimage I'll frame Unto the blessed Maid of W." In Richards' Misogonus iii. 1, Alison prays "Our sweet Lady of W. be with her sweetly sweet soul." In Fulwell's Like, Haz. iii. 311, Newfangle says, "If our Lady of W. had no fairer nose and visage, They were fools that would go to her on pilgrimage." In Day's B. Beggar i., Canby says to the Bp. of Winchester: "And ye were able to give him as much land as would lie between Winchester and W., he would be your prigger." Drayton, in Odes (1619), says of his lady's house: "Had she been born the former age, That house had been a pilgrimage; And reputed more divine Than W., or Beckett's shrine."

In Webster's Weakest i. 2, Bunch sings a Ballad beginning "K. Richd.'s gone to W, To the Holy Land." In B. & F. Pestle ii. 8, Merrythought sings the same Ballad. In a satire quoted in Secret Hist. of James I i. 236, the Earl of Salisbury is represented as sweetly singing "W. to his Amaryllis." In Mankind 20, Nought says, "I can pipe on a W. whistle." In B. & F. Hon. Man. v. 3, the servant says, "I'll renounce my five mark a year to teach young birds to whistle W." Scene I of Mr. Attowel's Jigge is sung "to the tune of W." The tune is given in Grove's Dict. of Music (s.v. W.); and the 1st number in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book is a set of 29 variations on it by Dr. John Buff. In J. Heywood's Witless, John says, "By joy of a jewel scarce worth a mite The sot oft sleepeth no wink in a whole night; And for ensample, with a W. ring." And James says, a little later, "For cause considered and weighed as light as your W. ring aforesaid." In Abington iv. 3, Nicholas says, "I warrant, when he was in [the dirt] he swore W. and chafed terrible for the time." In Jonson's Tub iii. 1, Turfe says, "Now, by our Lady of W., I had rather be marked out for scavinger than have this office."

WALTHAM, or WALTHAM CROSS

A vill. in Herts., 12 m. N. of Lond., where Edward I erected one of the Elinor Crosses, which still happily remains. Just across the border of the county is W. Abbey or W. Holy C.– called from the black flint cross discovered miraculously on the top of the hill near by in the reign of Canute and deposited in the Abbey, where it attracted hosts of pilgrims. Harold was buried in the Abbey Ch., where his tomb remained until it was destroyed in 1540. The nave of the Abbey has survived and is used as the parish ch. Around W. stretched W. Forest, of which Epping Forest is a relic.

The Palmer in J. Heywood's Four PP i. 1 had made a pilgrimage to "Waltam." In Ret. Pernass. iii. 1, Sir Raderick asks Immerito: "How many miles from W. to Lond.?" and is answered, "twelve, Sir." In Merry Devil i. 2, Clare says, "There are crosses, wife; here's one in W., another at the Abbey, and a 3rd at Cheston." In the next scene Fabel threatens that by bringing about a huge flood he "Will drive the deer from W. in their walks." Banks of W. is one of the characters in the play, and there are many references to the Abbey and the Forest. In Dekker's Edmonton i. 1, Frank says to Winifred: "Thou shalt live near W. Abbey with thy uncle." Curiously, there is a Banks in this play too; which seems to indicate that he was a study from the life. In B. & F. Pestle i. 2, Luce says, "Our course must lie through W. Forest where I have a friend will entertain us." The scene of ii. 2, 3, 4, and 5 is laid in W. Forest; ii. 6 is before the Bell Inn, W.; Tim says, "Why, we are at W.-Town's end and that's the Bell Inn." Act 3 takes place partly in the Forest and partly in the town of W. In Jonson's Magnetic v. 6, Sir Moth tells of a man who would walk in his sleep "to St. John's Wood and W. Forest, escape by all the ponds and pits in the way." In Brome's Crew ii., there is a ballad beginning "There was an old fellow at W.-Cross Who merrily sung when he lived by the loss." Evidently he was the original of Merrythought in B. & F. Pestle. The refrain of this song–" With a hem, boys, hem, and a cup of old sack"–is probably referred to by Shallow in H4 B. iii. 2, 231: "Our watchword was 'Hem, boys.'" In Killigrew's Parson i. 3, Sad says, "I confess I cannot ride like St. George at W." There was no doubt a George Inn at W.; indeed the vill. was mostly made up of Inns for the accommodation of the pilgrims to the Abbey. See also WANSTEAD.

WALTHAMSTOWE

A vill. in Essex on the Lea near the border of Epping Forest, 6 m. N.E. of Lond., of which it is now practically a suburb. It is one of the places visited by Merry Report in J. Heywood's Weather, p. 100. [ed. note "Walltamstowe" is also the place where the Countess Claridon retires after believing herself widowed in The Wasp]

WALTON

A vill. in Norfolk, 30 m. West of Norwich, and 2 m. S. of Gayton. In Mankind 23, Now-a-days says, "I shall go to William Baker of W., to Richard Bollman of Gayton."

WANDSWORTH

A vill. in Surrey on the Wandle at its junction with the Thames; now a suburb of Lond., abt. 5 m. in a direct line S.West of St. Paul's. There was a fair there in Whitsun week. In a note to Bacchus, it is said: "Whoever observes the rioting of the Lond. youth at Whitsontide at Greenwich, Wandsworth, etc., will be soon convinced that Bacchus still keeps his Pentecost at Lond."

WANSTEAD

A vill. in Essex, near the Roding, 3 m. N.E. of Lond. Here the Earl of Leicester had a countryhouse; and on a visit to him there Sidney's Lady of the May was presented before the Q. as she was walking in Wansted Garden in Waltham Forest in 1578.

WANTIGE

(i.e. WANTAGE). A town in Berks., 60 m. West of Lond. It has considerable manufactures of woollen cloth and sacking, and gave its name to a kind of woollen cap. In W. Rowley's Search 31, the feltmakers complain that their trade is being ruined by the popularity of caps–" That was, Monmouth caps, Wantige caps, round caps, etc."

WAPPING

A dist. in Lond., lying on the N. bank of the Thames, S. of Lond. Docks, and extending from St. Katherine's to New Crane. The first erection at W. was a gallows at Execution Dock (q.v.), where pirates and others were hung up at low water and left for the rising tide to drown. Stow tells us that within 40 years from his own time there was no other building there; but the gallows having been further removed, "a continual street or filthy strait passage, with alleys of small tenements or cottages [has been] built, inhabited by sailors, victuallers, along by the river of Thames almost to Radcliff, a good mile from the Tower." This is now the W. High St.; but the cottages have been mostly replaced by warehouses. In the early part of the 17th cent. an alum factory and a number of brewhouses were erected; but in 1628 the inhabitants petitioned against them as nuisances and they were removed. W. Old Stairs, immortalised by Dibdin, are just to the E. of the W. entrance to Lond. Docks. In Jonson's Augurs, Urson sings, "The wives of W., They trudge to our tapping, And there out ale desire." In Nash's Wilton B. 4, we find the phrase "God send him good shipping to W.!" i.e. good luck to him! In Dekker's Northward ii. 1, Hornet says, "Come, Master Belch, I will bring you to the water-side, perhaps to W., "where Belch's ship was lying. In Launching, it is said of the new East India Company: "Lyme House speaks their liberality; Ratcliff cannot complain nor W. weep nor Shadwell cry out against their niggardliness." In Davenant's Rhodes B., the Prologue says, "Skippers with wet beards at W. woo." In his Rutland, p. 217, the Parisian says sarcastically, "I will forbear to visit your courtly neighbours at W." In Killigrew's Parson iii. 5, Jolly says of Crop the Brownist: "He's married again to a rich widow at W." In Cowley's Cutter [ed. note The Guardian] i. 5, Jolly chaffs Cutter and Worm on their constant change of abode: "Today at W., and to-morrow you appear again at Mill-bank, like a duck that dives at this end of the pool and rises unexpectedly at the other."

Allusions to the execution of pirates at W. are common. Taylor, in Works ii. 21, calls it "W. whereas hanged drowned pirates die." Stow says that the wretches were hung in chains at low water mark and left "till three tides had overflowed them." In Temp. i. 1, 62, Antonio curses the Boatswain: "This widechopped rascal, would thou might'st lie drowning The washing of 10 tides!" Dekker, in News from Hell, says of a rich miser: "He built a pharos, or rather a blockhouse, beyond the gallows at W., to which the coal-carriers from Newcastle were brought a-bed, and discharged their bellies." Middleton, in Black Book, p. 13, refers to a criminal "new cut down, like one at W., with his cruel garters about his neck." (Note the pun on cruel and crewel.) In Eastward iv. 1, Slitgut says, "I hold my life there's some other a-taking up at W. now. Look what a sort of people cluster about the gallows there." In Cooke's Greene's Quoque i. 2, Bubble, when Staines threatens to turn pirate, says, "O Master, have the grace of W. before your eyes, remember a high tide; give not your friends cause to wet their handkerchiefs." In T. Heywood's Fortune v. 1, the Purser says, "W. is our harbour, a quicksand that shall swallow many a brave marine soldier." In B. & F. Fair Maid I. v. 2, the Clown says, "We shall never reach Lond., I fear; my mind runs so much of hanging, landing at W." In Eastward iv. 3, Quicksilver says, "Would it had been my fortune to have been trussed up at W., rather than ever to ha' come here." In Dekker's Northward ii. 1, when Hans proposes to take the party to W., Hornet says, "He says, Doll, he would have thee to W. and hang thee." Taylor, in Description of Tyburn, says, "And there's a waterish tree at W., Whereas sea-thieves or pirates are catched napping."

WAPPINGTON

Probably an imaginary place, introduced for the sake of the rhyme. There may possibly be a reference to Wapping (q.v.). In Jonson's Gipsies, the Patrico describes a tribe of gipsies as "Born first at Niglington, Bred up at Filchington, Boarded at Tappington, Bedded at Wappington."

WARDEN

A vill. in Bedfordsh., S.E. of Bedford, where De Sartis Abbey was founded for the Cistercian monks by Walter Espec in 1135. It was famous for its pears and apples, which were specially suitable for stewing and for making pies. In W.T. iv. 3, 49, the Clown says, "I must have saffron to colour the w. pies." Boorde, in his Dyetary, recommends "W. apples roasted, stewed, or baken."

WARDROBE

A building in the Blackfriars, Lond., near Puddle-dock, erected by Sir John Beauchamp in the 14th cent. It was bought by Edward III and used as a repository for the royal robes; and, what is much more important, for the offices concerned with the administration of the King's Household, and even with "the general administration of the Realm" (see Tout, Place of Edward II in English History, p. 64, and other references in Index under WARDROBE). It was destroyed in the Gt. Fire, and the offices of the Master of the Wardrobe were removed, first to the Savoy, and then to Buckingham St. Shakespeare, in his Will, says, "I give, will, bequeath, and devise unto my daughter Susannah Hall all that Messuage or tenement, wherein one John Robinson dwelleth, situat, lying, and being in the Blackfriars in Lond., near the Wardrobe."

WARE

A town in Herts. on the Lea, 20 m. N. of Lond., on the North Road. A jaunt out to W. was a favourite day's pleasure for the Londoners. Hence there were several Inns in the long main street of the town, amongst them the Saracen's Head, where the great bed of W., 10 ft. 9 square and 7 ft. 6 high, was to be seen. It was said to be able to accommodate a dozen sleepers. It is still preserved at the Rye-House.

Chaucer, C. T. A. 694, uses the phrase "fro Berwick unto W." to indicate the whole of England; and his Cook is called "Hogge of W." In Three Ladies ii. 1, Simplicity says to Fraud: "Thou didst go into Hertfordshire to a place called W., and thou didst grease the horses' teeth that they should not eat hay." Dekker's Northward opens in an Inn at W.; and in iii. 2, Featherstone says, "We'll lie at W. all night and the next morning to Lond." In Jonson's Barthol. iv. 3, Whit promises Mrs. Littlewit that she shall "ride to W. and Rumford in dy coash, shee de players, be in love vit 'em." In his Epicoene iii. 1, Mrs. Otter tells how her new dress was splashed all over by a brewer's horse "as I was taking coach to go to W. to meet a friend." In Middleton's Chaste Maid iii. 3, Sir Oliver says, "Saddle the white mare; I'll take a whore along and ride to W." In his R.G. ii. 1, Laxton asks Moll to go out of town with him; "I mean honestly to Brainford, Staines, or W." In iii. 1, the coachman says that his horses "are the same that have drawn all your famous whores to W." In Merry Devil i. 3, Fabel boasts "I'll make the brinish sea to rise at W. And drown the marshes unto Stratford-bridge." In Jonson's Devil v. 3, Shackles says that the stink of the explosion at Newgate could be smelled "as far as W., as the wind lies." In Webster's Weakest iii. 4, when Jacob says, "Niet for w.," i.e. "No, in truth," Bunch replies, "For W., drunkard? Thou saidst for Lond. even now." In Tw. N. iii. 2, 51, Sir Toby bids Sir Andrew "As many lies as Will, lie in thy sheet of paper, although the sheet were big enough for the bed of W. in England, set 'em down." In Jonson's Epicoene v. 1, La Foole says to Daw: "[We have been] in the great bed at W. together in our time." In Dekker's Northward v. 1, Mayberry concludes the play: "Come, we'll dare Our wives to combat i'th' great bed in W."

WARICKSHERE

See WARWICKSHIRE.

WARKWORTH

A vill. in Northumberland, near the mouth of the Coquet, 28 m. N. of Newcastle. On a height close to the vill. is the ancient stronghold of W. Castle, with an octagonal keep and a lofty observation tower in the centre of it. It belonged to the Percy family. It is the scene of H4 B. i. 1; Rumour, in the Induction 35, describes it as "This worm-eaten hold of ragged stone." Act ii. sc. 3 is placed "at W.; Before the Castle."

WARWICK

The county town of Warwicksh., on the Avon, 108 m. N.West of Lond. and 8 m. N.E. of Stratford-on-Avon. The magnificent castle dates from the 14th cent., and is still the residence of the Earl of W. The collegiate Ch. of St. Mary contains the unique Beauchamp Chapel, completed in 1464. The tomb of its founder, Richd. Beauchamp, Earl of W., occupies the central position therein. The fine half-timbered Almshouses, called the Leicester Hospital, were founded by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, in 1571The town dates back to Roman times. In J. Heywood's Weather, p. 100, Merry Report claims to have been at W. In Pappe, Lyly charges Martin Marprelate with ribaldry, and refers for proof to "my old hostess of the Swan in W." In Jonson's Owls, performed at Kenilworth, Capt. Cox says of his hobby-horse: "He is the Pegasus that uses To wait on W. muses"; referring to the part played by Cox in the festivities at Kenilworth, 4 m. from W., in 1575. In H6 C. v. 1, 13, Somerset says to W., who is on the walls of Coventry: "The drum your Honour hears marcheth from W." The road from W. enters Coventry at the S.West of the town.

The 1st Earl of W. known in record is the legendary Guy of W. He performed mighty deeds against the Saracens, and in England he slew the Danish giant Colbrand, the dun cow of Dunsmore, and a dragon in Northumberland. He then became a hermit and lived in the cave still shown at Guy's Cliffe, near W. His helmet, pot, and fork are to be seen in the Castle. In Glapthorne's Wit ii. 1, Thorowgood speaks of "Sir Guy of W.'s history." Taylor, in Works i. 240, says, "I stole back again to Islington to the sign of the Maidenhead; after supper we had a play of Guy of W. played by the Earl of Darbie his men." This play was by Day and Dekker; it is probably the one referred to by Nabbes in C. Garden i. 1, where Dobson tells of the players who "had the great pot-lid for Guy of W.'s buckler." Another play by B. J. was produced in 1639 under the title of The Tragical History of Guy Earl of W. The 1st historical Earl of W. was Henry de Newburgh, who was created Earl by William Rufus. The Earldom passed in 1268 to the Beauchamp family. Guy, Earl of W., appears in Marlowe's Ed. II as one of the bitter enemies of Gaveston. He was Earl from 1298 to 1315. Gaveston nicknamed him "The Black Hound of Arden," and he was the chief actor in the arrest and execution of the favourite on Blacklow Hill, near W. The W. of Ed. III, the father of the Countess of Salisbury, was Thomas de Beauchamp, son of the foregoing, one of the founders of the Order of the Garter; he died of the pestilence in 1369. The W. of H4 and H5 was Richd. de Beauchamp, Earl from 1401 to 1439. He is wrongly addressed as Nevill in H4 B. iii. 1, 66. He fought at Shrewsbury and at Agincourt. He is the W. of H6 A. i. 1 mentioned as present at the funeral of Henry V. As Part I of H6 ends in 1444, this Richd. should be the W. of the scenes in the Temple Garden and at the coronation of the young K. in Paris; but it is probable that Shakespeare confused him with his more famous son-in-law, Richd. Nevil, who became Earl through his marriage with Richd.'s daughter in 1449. He at all events is the W. of H6 B. and H6 C. who was killed at Barnet in 1471 and is known as the King-maker.

HISTORY OF WARWICK "THE KING MAKER"

He first threw in his lot with the House of York, but in 1457 took the oath of allegiance to Harry VI. But in 1459 he took up arms for the D. of York, captured the K. in 1460, and, after being defeated by the Q. at St. Alban's, won the decisive battle of Towton in 1461, which secured the crown for Edward IV. In 1468 he again changed sides and took Edward prisoner at Edgecote in 1469. In 1470 he marched on Lond. and replaced Henry on the throne, Edward having fled to Flanders. But in the next year Edward returned and finally defeated W. at Barnet, where he was slain. Richd. of Gloucester married his daughter Anne, and he is often referred to in R3. He appears also in T. Heywood's Ed. IV, where Buckingham introduces Anne to Richd. of Gloucester as "this princely lady, The Lady Anne of W." On the death of the King-maker the Earldom was conferred on the K.'s brother Clarence, and then passed to his son Edward, who was beheaded for complicity in Warbeck's conspiracy in 1499. This "young Edward Earl of W., son to Clarence" is spoken of in Ford's Warbeck v. 3. The Earldom passed later to the Dudleys, then to the Riches, and finally came in 1759 to the Grevilles, its present holders, who were descended from a branch of the original Beauchamps.

WARWICK LANE

A narrow street in Lond., running from Newgate St. to Paternoster Row. It was originally Old Dean's Lane, but got its new name from a house built there by one of the Earls of W. Stow tells how W., the King-maker, lodged there in 1457 "with 600 men, all in red jackets."

WARWICKSHIRE

One of the midland counties of England. It measures about 50 by 33 m. It is chiefly noteworthy as the native county of Shakespeare.

In Trag. Richd. II. iv. 1, 232, the K. grants "Warickshere "to his favourite Greene. In Marlowe's Ed. II i. 1, Warwick says of Mortimer: "All W. will love him for my sake." Falstaff on his way from Lond. to Shrewsbury passes through W. In H4 A. iv. 2, 56, he says to the Prince: "What, Hal! How now, mad wag? What a devil dost thou in W.?" In H6 C. iv. 8, 9, Warwick says, "In W. I have true-hearted friends." In H6 B. iii. 2, 201, Suffolk addresses Warwick as "proud lord of W." In Respublica v. 6, Avarice says, "Then would I have stretched the county of Warwick upon tenter-hooks and made it reach to Berwick." In Greene's Friar i. 1, Ralph says there is a better girl than Margaret of Fressingfield "in W.," because the Abbot's lady-love lives there.

WASH

A bay on the E. coast of England between Norfolk and Lincolnshire. It is about 25 m. long by 15 broad. Here K. John lost all his baggage and treasure in 1216. In Trouble. Reign, p. 308, Philip tells the K., "Passing the Washes with our carriages, The impartial tide deadly and inexorable Came raging in with billows threatening death And swallowed up the most of all our men." Later on a Messenger brings word to Lewis: "He [John] and his, environed with the tide On Lincoln Washes all were overwhelmed." In K.J. v. 6, 41, The Bastard says of his troops: "These Lincoln Washes have devoured them"; and in v. 7, 63, he tells the K., "The best part of my power Were in the Washes all unwarily Devoured by the unexpected flood."

WASHFORD

The old name for Wexford, the county in the S.E. of Ireland, on St. George's Channel. In H6 A. iv. 7, 63, the Earl of Shrewsbury is entitled "Great Earl of Washford, Waterford, and Valence." The Earldom was conferred on him in 1446.

WATERFORD

A county on the S. coast of Ireland, between Wexford and Cork. See under WASHFORD.

WATER GATE

At Ferrara; probably the Porta del Po on the West of the city leading into the Corso is intended. In Gascoigne's Supposes iii., Erostrato says, "Going to seek Pasiphilo, and hearing that he was at the water-gate, behold I espied my fellow Litio."

WATERWORK

An engine or force-pump erected in the old mansion of the Bigods by Broken Wharf, Lond., to supply water from the river to the middle and W. parts of the city. It was set up in 1594–5 by one Bevis Bulmar, and was notable as the first attempt to have water laid on to individual houses. Hitherto all water had been carried from the various conduits in buckets to the houses. In Jonson's Alchemist ii. 1, Mammon proposes to serve the whole city with his Elixir Vitae "each house his dose, and at the rate." Surly breaks in: "As he that built the W. does with water?" In iii. 2, 2, we are told that Abel Drugger was "cessed at eighteen pence for the W." There is possibly a reference to the noise made by this machine in B. & F. Prize i. 1, where Tranio says of Petruchio: "The motion of a dial, when he's testy, is the same trouble to him as a water-work."

WATLING STREET

The famous Roman Road which ran from Dover through Lond. to Chester, with an offshoot northwards (by Cannock, Stockport, Manchester, and Lancaster) to Carlisle and Glasgow. In Lond. a part of it still retains the old name. It runs E. from the S.E. corner of St. Paul's Churchyard to the junction of Queen and Queen Victoria Sts. It was and is inconveniently narrow; Stow says, "The inhabitants thereof are wealthy drapers, retailers of Woollen cloths, both broad and narrow, of all sorts, more than in any one st. of this city." It contained 4 churches, viz. St. Augustin's, Allhallows, St. Mary's, and St. Antholin's. Allhallows and St. Antholin's have now disappeared, and the E. end of the st. has been much altered through the construction of Q. Victoria St.

Drayton, Polyolb. xiii. 312, says that W. St. "doth hold her way From Dover to the farth'st of fruitful Anglesey." In Chaucer's House of Fame ii. 939, the eagle says to the poet: "See yonder, lo, the Galaxye the which Men clepe the Milky Wey, for it is white And somme parfey callen hit Watlynge strete." This is a very primitive, perhaps a mythological, reference. The same name is found in Gavin Douglas, Aen. v. 316 (see Skeat's note on the passage in the House of Fame in his edition of Chaucer's Works). In Cambises v., Ambidexter says, in reference to the mourning required for the Q.'s death, "I believe all the cloth in W. st. to make gowns would not serve." In Nash's Summers prol., we have: "God give you good night in W. st." In Cooke's Greene's Quoque, p. 548, Staines, commending the life of a serving-man, says, "He wears broad cloth, and yet dares walk W. st.. without fear of his draper." Deloney, in Newberie ix., tells the story of "Randoll Pert, a draper, dwelling in W.-streete." In his Reading vi., he tells how the clothiers' wives, visiting Lond., "in W.-st. viewed the great number of drapers." In Dekker's Shoemaker's iv. 3, Ralph is sent "to the sign of the Golden Ball in W. st. "for Master Hammon, who is a wealthy citizen of Lond. In the alternative tide of The Puritan, Lady Plus is called "The Widow of W.-st."

WAVENEY

A river in England, rising on the N. boundary of Suffolk and flowing between Suffolk and Norfolk till it falls into the Yare a few miles above Yarmouth. It is navigable as far as Bungay. In Look about iv., Gloucester speaks of "my fort of Bungay whose wars are washed with the clear stream of Waveney."

WAYD

Probably St. Nicholas at Wade, a vill. on the western edge of the Isle of Thanet, almost due N. of Dover; the monster would be as long as Kent is wide. In Wilson's Pedler 374, the Pedler tells of a huge monster "from Dover to Wayd we esteem him to be larger in length."

WEAR

There are villages so called in Devonsh. and Somersetsh.; but I am disposed to think that WARE is intended (q.v.). There was an ancient cruciform ch. there, and the reference may be to one of the grotesque gargoyles by which the rain-water was discharged from its roof. In Kirke's Champions v. 1, the Clown sings of his mistress: "Her face bears a front like to Wear waterspout, Which brought was from thence by great cunning."

WEBLEY, or WEOBLEY

A town in Herefordsh., 11 m. N.West of Hereford, and some 10 m. from the Welsh border. It had an old castle, dating from the time of Stephen, which is now entirely demolished. It was famous for its ale. In Jonson's Wales, Evan sings, "And what you say to ale of Webley, Toudge him as well, you'll praise him trebly." Fynes Moryson, in Itinerary iii. 3, 142, says, "The bread of Lemster and drink of Weably (a neighbour town) are proverbially praised before all others."

WEEPING CROSS

There are 3 places known by this name: They were doubtless crosses where penitents came on pilgrimage. The phrase "to come home by W. Cross" is proverbial, and means to return sorrowfully from some unsuccessful adventure. Howell, in English Proverbs, quotes it: "He that goes out with often loss At last comes home by W. Cross." In T. Heywood's I.K.M. B., Hobson says, "Had you before the law foreseen the loss, You had not now come home by W. Cross." In Abington iii. 2, Nicholas, who is a great quoter of proverbs, says, "'Tis not good to have an oar in another man's boat; so a man might come home by W. Cross." In Eastward iv. 3, Touchstone says, "They have all found the way back again by w. cross; but I'll not see them." Greene, in Quip, p. 228, says, "I hold the tailor for a necessary member to teach young novices the way to w. cross." In Lyly's Euphues England, p. 224, the Hermit says to Callimachus: "The time will come when, coming home by W. Cross, thou shalt confess that it is better to be at home in the cave of a hermit than abroad in the court of an emperor."

WELBECK ABBEY

An old Premonstratensian Abbey in Notts., 22 m. N. of Nottingham in the Sherwood Forest dist., and near the border of Derbyshire. Here the D. of Newcastle entertained Charles I in 1638, and Jonson wrote Love's Welcome to Welbeck for that occasion. W. A. is now the seat of the D. of Portland.

WELCH, WELSH

See WALES.

WERTENBERG

A misprint or mistake for Wittenberg in the 1st edition of Marlowe's Faustus, prol. 18.

WEST CHEAP

(i.e. CHEAPSIDE, q.v.). In Deloney's Reading 36., a man comes to Colebrook with a report "that Lond. was all on a fire, and that it had burned down Thomas Becket's house in West cheape." See THOMAS (ST.) of AKERS.

WEST CHESTER

(i.e. CHESTER, q.v.). It was first called Legaceaster, then West C., and finally C. In Three Ladies ii., Lucre speaks of West C. as one of the important mercantile cities of England where infinite numbers "great rents upon little room do bestow." In Munday's John Kent i. 1, Griffin says, "Spite of C.'s strong inhabitants, Throw West C. meekly in our hands"; where it seems to mean the west, part of C. In Dekker's Northward i. 1, the Chamberlain says, "Your captains were wont to take their leave of their Lond. polecats at Dunstable; the next morning, when they had broken their fast together, the wenches brought them to Hockley-i'-th'-Hole; and so the one for Lond., the other for Westchester." C., owing to its distance from Lond., and its convenience for embarking for Ireland, was a favourite refuge for broken men and fugitives from justice. In Cooke's Greene's Quoque i. 2, Staines says, "My refuge is Ireland or Virginia; necessity cries out, and I will presently to West C." In Jonson's Alchemist v. 3, Face says of the runaway doctor and capt.: "The doctor, he shall hear of him at Westchester; and of the Capt., tell him, at Yarmouth or some good port-town else, lying for a wind." Lyly, in Pappe, p. 53, says, "I know where there is more play [i.e. gambling] in the compass of an Hospital than in the circuit of Westchester." Burton, A. M. ii. 2, 3, says, "Some cities use galleries of arched cloisters towards the street, as Westchester with us." The reference is to "The Rows," still to be seen in C.

WEST COUNTRY

(Wn.=Western). Applied to the counties in the S.West of England, particularly Devon, Somerset, and Cornwall. In Jonson's Barthol. iv. 2, we are introduced to Puppy, "a wn. man, that's come to wrestle before my Lord Mayor anon." In Dekker's Westward ii. 2, Birdlime says, "The lob has his lass, the collier his dowdy, the wn. man his pug." In Ford's Warbeck iv. 8, when Warbeck says, "Ye're all resolved for the w. parts of England!" the crowd replies "Cornwall, Cornwall!" Herrick, in Lachrimae, says in reference to his departure into Devon, "Before I went To banishment Into the loathed W., I could rehearse A lyric verse, And speak it with the best." In Old Meg, p. 1, Wn. men are celebrated "for gambouls," i.e. for wrestling contests. The bargees who brought their barges down from the W. to Lond. were called "Wn. Pugs." In Lyly's Endymion iv. 2, Epiton says he will travel "in a wn. barge, when with a good wind and lusty pugs one may go 10 m. in 2 days." Greene, in Thieves Falling out C. j., says, "I doubt the sandeyed ass will kick like a Wn. pug." Dekker, in Wonderful Year F. iii. b., speaking of the fear of the plague in Lond., says, "Even the Wn. pugs, receiving money there, have tyed it in a bag at the end of their barge, and trailed it through the Thames."

WESTERN ISLES

Apparently the newly-discovered West Indies are meant (see INDIES). In Marlowe's Tamb. A. i. 1, Meander speaks of "merchants of Persepolis Trading by land unto the W. I." Later, in the same scene, Ortygius crowns Cosroe K. of "East India and the late-discovered isles." In Chivalry, Bourbon says to Bellamira: "I'll not stain that face For all the treasure of the W. Iland."

WEST GATE, NEWCASTLE–ON–TYNE

The old W. G. of the city, which was formerly surrounded by a massive wall pierced by gates. The W. G. was near St. John's Ch.; the name still remains in Westgate Road, being the chief road (Roman) out of Newcastle to the West, though the G. was pulled down in the early part of the 19th cent. It was built by Roger Thornton in the reign of Henry VI. In Brewer's Lovesick King iv., Thornton says, "Here at this W. G. first came Thornton in." This is a line from an old ballad: "In at the W. G. came Thornton in, With a hap and a halfpenny and a lamb's skin."

WEST HAM

See HAM.

WESTMINSTER

Properly speaking, means the Abbey built on Thorney Island by K. Sebert; but was soon a applied to the vill. which gradually sprang up in its neighbourhood. Its boundaries extended in the 16th cent. from Temple Bar to Kensington, and from the Thames to Marylebone. The Abbey lies near the N. bank of the Thames, just over 1( m. in a direct line from St. Paul's, and a little over 1( m. by way of Fleet St., the Strand, and Whitehall. W. became a city when Henry VIII in 1540 appointed Thomas Thirlby Bp. of W. He held that position till 1550, but on his translation to Norwich the bishopric was abolished; and so he was the first and Last person to enjoy that dignity. Partly because of the privilege of sanctuary possessed by the Abbey, partly through the presence of the Court, W. became notorious as a haunt of bad characters, both male and female. In Haughton's Englishmen iv. 1, Frisco says, "This post? Why, 'tis the Maypole on Ivy-bdge, going to W." (see IVY BRIDGE). In Killigrew's Parson i. 1, the Capt. says of the Parson: "he stood at the corners of streets and whispered gentlemen in the ear and so delivered his wants like a message; which being done, the rogue vanished and would dive at W. like a dabchick and rise again at Temple Bar." In Dekker's Edmonton v. 2, one of the country-people avers that Mother Sawyer's sow cast her farrow; "yet were they sent up to Lond., and sold for as good W. dog-pigs at Bartholomew Fair as ever ale-wife longed for." I find no other allusion to the excellence of the Boar-pigs of W. Nash, in Pierce F. 4, exclaims: "W.! W.! much maidenhead hast thou to answer for at the day of judgment!" Greene, in Thieves Intro., says of foysts: "In W., the Strand, . . . they do every day build their nests." The dialogue between the He-foyst and She-foyst opens: "Fair Kate, well met! what news about your W. building, that you look so blythe?" In News from Hell, mention is made of "all the whores and thieves that live in W., etc., etc." In Gamester v. 1, Hazard advises a frail woman: "Let her set up shop i'the Strand or W.; she may have custom." In T. Heywood's Hogsdon ii. 1, the Wise woman mentions, amongst other swindlers and fortune-tellers, "one in W. that practiseth the book and the key, and the sieve and the shears "–both methods of telling fortunes.

Long Meg of W. has come down to fame as a "roaring girl" who wore men's clothes, and in that disguise played many merry and daring pranks. She kept a house of ill-fame in Southwark in the reign of Henry VIII. Her life was published in 1582, and she had already, in 1594, been immortalised in a Ballad and a Play. She is the heroine of a story in Deloney's Craft ii. 1. In Dekker's Satiro. iii. 1, 240, Tucca calls Mrs. Miniver "My long Meg a W." In Jonson's Fortun. Isles, Skelton speaks of "W. Meg With her long leg, As long as a crane, And feet like a plane With a pair of heels As broad as 2 wheels." In Dekker's Westward v. 2, Sir Gosling says to Birdlime: "What kin art thou to Long Meg of W.? Th'rt like her." In Middleton's R.G. v. 1, Jack Dapper says to Moll, "Was it your Meg of W.'s courage that rescued me from the Poultry puttocks?" In Tailor's Hog hath Lost i. 1, Haddit has written a jig or ballad for the player; when the player speaks of it as "that small matter," Haddit rejoins, "A small matter! You'll find it worth Meg of W., altho' it be but a bare jig." The reference is to the play above mentioned. The black marble slab, 11 ft. long, in the S. cloister of the Abbey, which covers the tomb of Gervase de Blois, son of K. Stephen, has long been called "Long Meg." A fair was held in W. on St. James's Day, July 25th. In Deloney's Craft ii. 11, it is said of the Green K. of St. Martin's: "St. James his day at last being come, he called up his wife betimes and bad her make ready if she would to the Fair"; but he dragged her all the way to Bristol, where there was also a fair on St. James's Day.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY

The ch. of St. Peter at W., said to have been founded by Sebert, K. of the East Saxons, about A.D. 616; his tomb, erected in 1308, is still to be seen in the Choir, Drayton, in Polyolb. xi. 227, says that Sebert "Began the goodly ch. of W. to rear." Edward the Confessor rebuilt it, and it was completed in 1065, a week before his death. His ch. covered the whole space occupied by the present A, and it had a central tower and 2 smaller towers at the West end. Nothing remains of this building except some pillar-bases under the N. side of the Choir. The K was buried in his new A., in the side of the Choir; but his body was removed to its present resting-place behind the Altar in 1269. In 1245, Henry III decided to remove the tower and the whole of the E. end and rebuild it; it was reopened for service in 1269, but was not completed till about 1285. The mosaic pavement before the High Altar was laid in 1283, and was the gift of Abbot Ware. In the 14th cent. Abbot Litlington built the College Hall, the Jerusalem Chamber, the Abbot's House, now the Deanery, and the tower in Dean's Yard. The West end was rebuilt during the reign of Richd. II. The Chapel of Henry VII at the E. end was built in 1502. The A. by this time presented much the same appearance as it does now, except that it had no towers at the West end; these were added at the beginning of the 18th cent. Opening out of the Ambulatory round the Altar and the Chapel of Edward the Confessor came in order, starting at the S.E. corner, the chapels of On the S. side of the Abbey are There was a peal of bells in the N.West tower. The principal tombs in the A. in Shakespeare's time were those of Kings and also These tombs were already objects of interest to visitors, and in the 17th cent. a charge of a penny was made by the verger who exhibited them. All the Kings and Queens of England have been crowned in the A., from Edward the Confessor to George V [ed note: to Elizabeth II as of 2002]. The Coronation Chair, which, since the time of Edward I, has enclosed the famous stone of Scone on which the old Scottish Kings were crowned [ed. note: the stone of Scone was returned to Scotland in the year 2000], stands at the West end of the Chapel of Edward the Confessor, with a 2nd similar chair made for the coronation of Mary the Q. of William III.

The dramatists of our period buried in the A. are as follows:
  1. Ben Jonson,
  2. Michael Drayton,
  3. Francis Beaumont, and
  4. William Davenant.
There is a monument to Shakespeare, but his body lies in the chancel of the ch. of the Holy Trinity at Stratford-on-Avon. The only scene in Shakespeare which takes place in the A. is H6 A. i. 1 (the funeral of Henry V). But H4 B. v. 5 is in the immediate neighbourhood of the A. after the coronation of Henry V; and H8 iv. 1 describes the procession to the coronation of Anne Boleyn in the A. The scene of H4 B. iv. 4 is the Jerusalem Chamber (q.v.). In H6 B. i. 2, 37, the Duchess of Gloucester says, "Methought I sat in seat of majesty In the cathedral ch. of W., And in that chair where kings and queens are crowned." In iv. 4, 31, the Messenger announces that Jack Cade "vows to crown himself in W." In R3 iv. i. 32, Stanley says to Anne, "Come, Madam, you must straight to W. There to be crowned Richd.'s royal q." In H8 iv. 1, 57, the 3rd gentleman tells how he has been "among the crowd i'the A." at the coronation of Q. Anne Boleyn. In S. Rowley's When You F. 1, the K. sends word to Lady Katherine Parr that "she shall be Q. and crowned at W." In Trag. Richd. II. i. 2, 50, Greene says, "We must attend his Grace to W., To the high nuptials of fair Anne a Beame," i.e. Anne of Bohemia, 1st q. of Richd. II. In True Trag., p. 126, Richmond says, "Now for our marriage and our nuptial rites, Our pleasure is they be solemnized In our A. of W. according to the ancient custom due." The Abbot of W., who appears in R2 iv. 1, and whom Northumberland in line 152 addresses as "my lord of W.," was almost certainly Richd. Harounden. He took part in Aumerle's plot, fled for his life, and died suddenly of an apoplectic fit; in v. 6, 19, Percy announces: "The grand conspirator, Abbot of W, Hath yielded up his body to the grave."

In Shirley's Hyde Park iii. 1, Mrs. Carol says, "Can they tell what they do in this noise? Pray heaven it do not break into the tombs at W. and wake the dead!" Dekker, in Hornbook vii., speaks of a country gentleman who "brings his wife up to see the tombs at W., the lions in the Tower." Peacham, in Worth of a Penny, says, "For a penny you may hear a most eloquent oration upon our English Kings and Queens, if you wilt seriously listen to David Owen, who keeps the Monuments at W." In Shirley's Bird iv. 1, Bonamico says, "I talk as glib, methinks, as he that farms the monuments." Donne, in Satires iv. 74, says, "At W . . . . the man that keeps the A. tombs And for his price doth with whoever comes Of all our Harrys and our Edwards talk." Earle, in Microcos. lxxv., says of the mere great man: "One of just as much use as his images, only he differs in this, that he can speak himself, and save the fellow of W. a labour." In Verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities, Peacham mentions among the sights of Lond. "W.'s monuments." Beaumont has a poem On the Tombs in Westminster Abbey.

WESTMINSTER BRIDGE

Also W. STAIRS or FERRY. A landing place for boats at the foot of Old Palace Yard. These bdges., like Ivy Bdge., Whitehall Bdge, King's Bdge., etc., were not bdges. over the river–of which there was only one, viz. Lond. Bdge–but short gangways connecting the landing stages with the shore. The easiest way from the City to W. was by taking a pair of oars up the river; hence the W. bdge. was very busy and constantly in use. Latimer, in Sermon (vi.) before Edward VI (1549) says, "There is never a wherryman at W.-bdge. but he can answer to this." In Foxe's Book of Martyrs, we read of Ralph Morris going from Lambeth "unto W. Bdge. with a sculler." In Dekker's Westward ii. 1, Justiniano says, "A number of better things between W. Bdge. and Temple Bar are fallen to decay since Charing fell." In News from Hell, Dekker says, "In hell you are not baited by whole kennels of yelping watermen as you are at W. Bdge." In Middleton's Quarrel ii. 2, Trim thinks that "roaring" will last "as long as the water runs under Lond. Bdge. or watermen ply at W. Stairs." In the title to St. Hilary's Tears (1642), it is said that they are shed "upon all professions from the Tower-stairs to W.-ferry."

WESTMINSTER GATE

The New Palace Yard was entered by 3 gates It is doubtless the first of these that is intended in the following passages (see also GATE–HOUSE). John Lydgate, in Lickpenny, says, after he had visited W. Hall, "Then to W. Gate I presently went; Cooks to me they took good intent And proferred me bread with ale and wine." Hoccleve, in Misrule 178, says, "Who was a greater master eke than I, or bet acquainted at W. gate among the taverners namely and cooks!"

WESTMINSTER HALL

The great Hall of the royal palace of W., founded by William Rufus, and reconstructed in its present form by Richd. II in 1397. The roof, of Irish oak, is one of the finest in the world. The Hall measures 290 by 68 ft., and is one of the largest apartments in existence unsupported by pillars. It was intended as the Banqueting Hall of the Palace, and is still used for the Coronation Banquets. In Trag. Richd. II. ii. 2, 213, the K. says, "The H. at W. shall be enlarged And only serve us for a dining room." Greene, in Quip, p. 232, says that K. Stephen "did count W. H. too little to be his dining chamber "and later, "When lowliness, neighbourhood, and hospitality lived in England, W. H. was a dining chamber, not a den of controversies." From the time of Henry III the courts of Common Law and Chancery were fixed in W. H. The Court of King's Bench sat on the S.E. side, and the Court of Chancery on the S.West, behind a wooden lattice, or cancellus. Towards the end of the 18th cent. the Courts were transferred to a new building on the West side of the H.; and are now removed to the New Law Courts on the N. side of Fleet St. close to Temple Bar. Many of the great State Trials were held in the H., notably those of Sir William Wallace, Sir Thomas More, Q. Anne Boleyn, Protector Somerset, Strafford, Charles I, and Warren Hastings. Hence W. comes to be used as a synonym for the Law.

In Piers, there are many references to W. as the home of the Law. "Here come Fals and Favel to have their deed executed "(B. ii. 160); "they that wonyeth in Westmynster "all worship Mede (B. iii. 12). In C. xi. 239, it is complained: "The sonne for the syres synnes sholde nat be werse; Westmynster law, ich wot well, worcheth the contrarie." In C. xxiii. 133, we are told that Simony "Bar adoun with meny a bryghte noble Muche of the wit and wisdom of Westmynster H." In C. xxiii. 284, we read of false folk who flee to Westmynster in order to cheat the Law. In Hycke, p. 84, Imagynacyon says, "In W. H. every term I am; an I were dead, the lawyers' thrift were lost." Later on, p. 105, Frewyll, speaking of himself and his fellow-highwaymen, says, "We have a sure canell at W., A thousand ships of thieves therein may ride sure." Lydgate, in Lickpenny, says, "In W. H. I found out one Which went in a long gown of ray . . . . Within this H. neither rich nor yet poor Would do for me aught, although I should die; Which seeing, I got me out of the door Where Flemings began on me to cry, Master, what will ye copen or buy? Fine felt hats or spectacles to read? ay down your silver and here you may speed." In World Child, p. 180, Folly says, "In Lond. is my chief dwelling. In Holborn was I brought forth and with the courtiers to W. I used to wend, for I am a servant of the Law." In Respublica v. 9, Avarice, being told that Peace is coming to the Earth, says, "W. H. might go play, if that came to pass." In Nature 112, Envy says, "Sir, it happened in W. H., before the judges all." In Three Lords, Dods., vi. 412, Dissimulation says, "Once in a month I stole in o' th' market-day to Leadenhall and about, and sometime to W. H." In Cobler of Canterbury, we read: "When W. H. is quite without benches And Southwark Bankside hath no pretty wenches, Then the cobler of Rumney shall a cuckold be." In Nobody 1151, Nobody says, "From thence [Charing Cross] I went to see the law Courts, held at W."

The post-knight (or Termer) was a fellow who hung round the Courts, ready to be engaged to give false evidence, or do any other dirty work for the litigants.

In Fair Women ii. 1174, Brown is conveyed "to the justices of the Bench, at W." In K. K. Knave, Dods., vi. 538, Coney Catcher says, "I have been a post-knight in W. this 12 year." In Underwit Courtwell says, "I am not now in Lond. marching with the puisnes to W. in our tom gowns embroidered with Strand dirt, to hear the Law." In Dekker's Northward i. 2, Chartley asks, "Hast any suits to be tried at W.?" In Shirley's Honour i., Riches says, "I will be racked at W. ere be confined to hear thy learned nonsense." Dekker, in Bellman, says, "Some of these Boothalers are cared Termers, and they ply W. H.; Michaelmas Term is their harvest." These Termers, like the post-knights, haunted the Courts to pick up bits of shady business. J. Heywood, in Spider and Fly (1556) xiv. 11, says, "In W. H. I . . . may be a termer all times and hours." In Middleton's Chaste Maid i. 1, Yellow-Hammer says to his wife: "The City cannot hold you, wife, but you must needs fetch words [i.e. legal terms] from W." In Jonson's Staple iv. 1, Picklock says he can cant "in all the languages in W. H., Pleas, Bench, or Chancery." In his Devil i. 1, Iniquity suggests to Pug that he should come to the Strand "'Gainst the lawyers come dabbled from W. H." In Epicoene iv. 2, Morose mentions W. H. as one of the noisiest places in Lond. In Dekker's Edmonton v. 1, Cuddy says to his dog: "If thou canst rub thy shoulder against a lawyer's gown, as thou passest by W. H, do." In Cooke's Greene's Quoque, p. 561, Staines says of Joice: "She's as dumb as W. H. in the long vacation." In W. Rowley's Match Mid. ii. 3, Alexander says, "He tramples upon the bosom of a tavern with that dexterity as your lawyers' clerks do to W.-h. upon a dirty day with a pair of white silk stockings." In Puritan i. 1, the Widow tells her son how his father was "up every morning betwixt 4 and 5; so duty at W. H. every term-time with all his cards and writings." In Jonson's Barthol iii. 1, Nightingale sings of pickpockets: "Examples have been Of some that were seen In W. H., yea, the pleaders between." Dekker, in Jests, says of the foyst or pickpocket: "W. H. is his good soil." Jonson, in Underwoods li., says, "The great H. at W., the scene Where mutual frauds are fought and no side yield." In St. Hilary's Tears (1642), we read: "On both sides of the H. they complain; at Heaven they say there is not a lawyer nor a clerk comes near them; and at Hell they come dropping in but now and then one." Heaven and Hell were popular names for 2 taverns at the end of the H. In Dekker's Westward iii. 2, Whirlpool says, "I have departed thence as hungry as ever came country attorney from W." The country practitioner would have little chance to get a case. Fuller, in Church Hist. ii. 7, 2, says, "A palm-tree served Deborah for her W. H., wherein she judged Israel."

The Irish oak of which the roof was made was supposed to be fatal to vermin of all kinds, including spiders. In Dekker's Westward iv. 1, Lucy says, "W. never breeds cobwebs." To make a W. matter of a thing means to go to law about it. Latimer, in Sermon (i.) before Edward VI (1549), says, "Thus this bargain became a W. matter; the lawyers got twice the value of the horse; and when all came to all, 2 fools made an end of the matter." In Phillips' Grissill, p. 49, Persuasion says, "Through the clouds I had a marvellous fall That I had like to broke my neck on the top of W. H." In J. Heywood's Play of Love, p. 185, the Lover says, "It would be as pleasant as to a covetous man to behold Of his own W. H. full of gold."

There were numerous shops or stalls along the sides of the H., occupied by booksellers, dealers in small wares, seamstresses, etc. Swetnam was "Printed for Richd. Meigher and are to be sold at his shops . . . and at W. H." Glapthorne's Wit was "Printed by Io. Okes for F. C. and are to be sold at his shops in King St. at the sign of the Goat and in W. H."

WESTMINSTER PALACE

The chief Palace of the Kings of England from Edward the Confessor to Henry VIII. It lay between the Abbey and the river on part of the site of the present Houses of Parliament. William the Conqueror added to its strength and splendour, and William Rufus completed it by the building of the Great Hall facing on to the New Palace Yard. Stephen immortalised his name by the famous Chapel of St. Stephen, which, after being rebuilt, first by Edward I and then after its destruction by fire by his 2 successors, was for a long time the meeting place of the Parliament. The P. was so much damaged by fire in 1512 that Henry VIII deserted it and transferred his Court to Whitehall, which he took from Wolsey in 1530. There still remained, however, the Star Chamber, the Painted Chamber, the Chapel, and the Hall, as well as other minor buildings. The fire of 1834 swept everything away except the Hall and the crypt of the Chapel, now the sole survivors of the old P. In the New P. Yard N. of the Hall, were a fountain or conduit on the N.West side, a bell-tower with an ancient clock opposite the entrance to the Hall, and the noble portal called the High Gate on the Western side.

In the historical plays of our period it may generally be assumed that scenes located "in the P." are to be supposed to take place at W., unless there is some definite indication to the contrary. Thus, in Shakespeare the following scenes are to be assigned to W. P. K.J. iv.2; R3 i. 3, ii. 1, 2, 4; iv. 2, 3, 4; H4 A. i. 1, 3, iii. 2; H4 B. iii. 1, iv. 5, v. 2; H5 i. 1, 2; H6 A. v. 1, 5; B. i. 1, 3, iv. 4; C. iii. 2, iv. 1, v. 7; and H8 v. 4 takes place in the New P. Yard. In Trag. Richd. II. ii. 1, 148, York says, "The Peers of England now are all assembled To hold a Parliament at W." In H4 B. ii. 4, 383, Peto says, "The K. your father is at W." In Contention, Part I, Haz., p. 495, Cade says, "Tomorrow I mean to sit in the K.'s seat at W." In Ford's Warbeck i. 1, the K. says, "It is our pleasure to remove our Court From W. to the Tower." In Middleton's Mad World ii. 2, Sir Bounteous says, "I was knighted at W." In i. 1, Follywit says, "I can hire bluecoats for you all by W. Clock." In Oldcastle iii. 4, the K. says, "I'll to W in this disguise." The Lord Mayor of Lond. on the day after his election paid a state visit to the Court at W., in his state barge with trumpets and drums. In Jonson's Epicoene iv. 1, Morose cries to the musicians: "Out of my doors, ye sons of noise and tumult, begot on an ill May-day, or when the galley-foist is afloat to W." In Shirley's Honour, Clod speaks of "the next day after Simon and Jude, when you go a-feasting to W. with your galley-foist and your popguns, to the very terror of the paper-whales." In his Honoria (a.k.a. Honor and Riches) i. 1, Maslin says, "The next day after Simon and Jude all your liveries go a feasting by water to W." In Sharpham's Fleire iii. 351, Fleire refers to the firing of a salute at Lambeth "when the Mayor and Aldermen land at W."

WESTMINSTER SCHOOL, or ST. PETER'S COLLEGE

There was a school connected with the Abbey as early as the 14th cent., but the present school was founded by Q. Elizabeth in 1560. The original school room was a dormitory of the Abbey; and the school-hall was the Abbot's Refectory, built by Abbot Litlington in the reign of Edward III. The boys have the privilege of being present in the Abbey at the coronation and other State ceremonies. Plays were regularly performed by the pupils, and the custom of giving a Latin play has survived to the present day. Five performances are recorded between 1568 and 1574, including Appius and Virginia, Paris and Vienna, and Truth, Faith, and Mercy. In the seventies John Taylor and William Elderton organised from the school companies of boy-actors who played at Court and elsewhere. Udall, the author of Roister, was head-master from 1553 to 1556. Amongst the pupils of the school were Ben Jonson, Thomas Randolph, Thomas Goffe, Nathaniel Field, Jasper Mayne, and Abraham Cowley. In Shirley's Pleasure ii. 1, Frederick says, "Prithee commend me to the library at W.; my bones I bequeath thither and to the learned worms that mean to visit them"–where there is also a reference to the tombs of the Abbey. In Jonson's Staple i. 2, Mrs. Mirth says of Jonson: "He kept school upon the stage, could conjure there, above the school of W., and Dr. Lamb too." In the Induction to his Magnetic, the Boy says, "I understaad that; since I learned Terence in the 3rd form at W." Richard Hakluyt, in Epist. Dedicat. to Principal Navigations (1589), tells how he was "one of her Majesty's scholars at W., that fruitful nursery."

WESTMORLAND

A county in the N.West of England, between Yorks., Lancs., and Cumberland. It is very mountainous, and is famous for its fine lake scenery. It gave their title to the great Neville family, Ralph Neville having been created Earl of W. in 1397. He is the W. who appears in H4 as a firm supporter of the K., and is represented in H5 as being at the battle of Agincourt, which was not the case, as he was then in England. He died in 1425 and was succeeded by his grandson Ralph, the son of John Neville who was killed at Towton. This Ralph is the W. of H6 C., who is represented as a supporter of the house of Lancaster. He died in 1523. The title passed to Francis Fane in 1624 by the marriage of his father to Mary Neville, and still continues in the Fane family. In George i. 3, Cuddie speaks of old William Musgrove as "the bravest horseman in all W."

WESTPHALIA

(Wn.=Westphalian). A province in West Prussia, lying between Hanover and the Rhine Provinces. Formerly it included the whole dist. between Brunswick and the Netherlands, and stretched from Hesse to the North Sea. Heylyn says, "The soil is wonderfully stored with acorns which feed swine of an exceeding pleasant taste and nourishment; so that the Wn. gammon of bacon is the chief dish at a banquet." Fynes Moryson, in Itin., says that English bacon and ham "are more savoury than in any other parts, excepting the bacon of W."

In Jonson's Barthol. v. 3, Leatherhead speaks of "Dunmow-bacon; Pythias corrects him, "You lie, it's Westfabian "Leatherhead replies, "Wn., you should say." In Marston's Malcontent iv. 3, Malevole describes a Moor as "the buff captain, the sallow Wn., gammon-faced zaza." The reference is to the brown colour of a ham. In Webster's White Devil v. 1, Flamineo says, "Protesting and drinking go together and agree as well as shoemakers and W. bacon." In Alimony i. 3, Baxter says, "Let this body of mine be hung up for a gammon of W. bacon." In B. & F. Captain ii. 2, Clara says, "I would have him buried cross-legged, like one o' the Templars, if his W. gammons will hold crossing." In Davenant's Albovine iv. 1, Grimold says, "My thighs are hardened like an old W. flitch." In his Wits iii. 2, Palatine says, "Let me hear thy aunt is stuck with more bay-leaves and rosemary than a W. gammon." Bays and rosemary were used for decking out a corpse; and also for adorning hams. In Shirley's Pleasure v. 1, Bornwell describes a proposed banquet at the Stillyard, where the wines "shall flow into our room And drown Ws. tongues, and anchovies." In Glapthorne's Wallenstein v. 2, Newman says, "May he die for drought like a W. pig i' th' dog-days." In his Hollander i. 1, Urinal says that Sconce looks "like a smoked W. ham." In Verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities, Vadianus says of the author: "Tom's a Bologna sausage lovely fat Stuffed with the flesh of a Wn. sow." Rabelais, in Gargantua iii., tells how Grangousier "was ordinarily well furnished with gammons of bacon, both of W., Mayence, and Bayonne." Hall, in Satires v. 1, 69, speaks of a tenement "Such as nice Lipsius would grudge to see Above his lodging in wild Westphalie." The scholar Lipsius lived for a time during 1591 in or about W.

WEST SAXONS

The Saxons who settled in the S. counties of England, in the dist. known collectively as Wessex. They first landed in A.D. 495, and in 519 Cedric assumed the title of K. of Wessex. In Brome's Queen's Exch. iii. 1, Anthynus sees "the ghosts of our 6 last West Saxon kings."

WEXFORD

See WASHFORD.

WHIGHTON

See WIGTON.

WHITECHAPEL

A parish in Lond., E. of Aldgate. It derived its name from the chapel of St. Mary Matfellon, which was in existence as early as 1329 and is now the parish ch. The W. Rd, which is often called simply W., is a broad thoroughfare running from Aldgate to Mile-end. It was the main road from Lond. to Essex and the eastern counties, and, having fallen into disrepair, was newly paved in 1572. A row of butchers' shops ran along one side of the road; and there were also many shoemakers' shops there. The whole dist. had a bad name as a resort of thieves and prostitutes. The local prison for debtors was known as Lord Wentworth's Gaol.

In Dekker's Shoemaker's i. 1, Eyre says, "Fight for the gentlemen shoemakers, the flower of St. Martin's, the mad knaves of Bedlam, Fleet st., Tower st., and W." In B. & F. Pestle v. 2, Ralph says, "Ancient, let your colours fly; but have a care of the butchers' hooks at W.; they have been the death of many a fair ancient." In Jonson's Ev. Man I. iv. 5, Bobadil tells how he has been assaulted "in divers skirts of the town, as Turnbull, W., Shoreditch, which were then my quarters." In Devil i. 1, Iniquity says to Pug: "We will survey the suburbs and make forth our sallies Down Petticoat Lane and up the smock alleys To Shoreditch, W., and so to St. Katherns." Kemp, in Nine Days Wonder, tells how he danced through W. on his way to Norwich. Taylor, in Works ii. 131, says, "Lord Wentworth's gaol within W. stands." In ii. 296, he says, "At W. near Lond. how many have been buried weekly, but have merely perished for lack of bread." In Penn. Parl., article 45 runs "We ordain and appoint that, if there be no great store of tempests, two half-penny loaves shall be sold for a penny in W."

WHITECROSS STREET

Lond., running N. from the West end of Fore St. across, the E. end of Beech St. to Old St. It was so named from a white cross which stood at its junction with Beech St. The Fortune Theatre (q.v.) stood to the West of Upper Whitecross St., between it and Golden Lane.

WHITEFRIARS

A precinct in the city of Lond. lying on the N. bank of the Thames between the river and Fleet St., bounded on the West by the Inner Temple and on the E. by Water Lane, now re-christened W. St. It was named from the ch. of the White Friars, or Carmelites, built in 1241, towards the N. boundary of the precinct, E. of Bouverie St. and N. of Tudor St. The refectory of the monastery occupied the site of the present offices of the Daily News. At the dissolution of the monasteries the ch. was pulled down and nothing was left of the buildings but the Hall, or Refectory. On the site many fair houses were built; but the privilege of sanctuary, still claimed and allowed, attracted to the neighbourhood a crowd of disreputable characters of all kinds, and these houses were divided up into tenement lodgings and taken possession of by the riff-raff of Lond. A lawless community of fraudulent debtors, refugees from justice, and women of the streets quickly grew up who defied the officers of the Law and governed themselves in a wild sort of fashion. Shadwell's Squire of Alsatia presents a vivid picture of this locality, which assumed the name of Alsatia during the 17th cent., from the no-man's land between the borders of Germany and France. Scott describes it graphically in The Fortunes of Nigel. This state of things continued all through the 17th cent., until the right of sanctuary was abolished in 1697.

In R3 i. 2, 227, Gloucester orders the attendants to convey the body of Henry VI, not to Chertsey, but "to W." Holinshed says the body was taken to Blackfriars; so that Shakespeare's memory seems to have made a slip. Towards the end of his life James Shirley lived in W, but was driven out by the Gt. Fire of 1666. In Tarlton's Jests, an ordinary in W. is mentioned as a favourite resort of the actor's. Harman, in Caveat C. 11, says, "Anno Domini 1566 there came a counterfeit crank under my lodging at the whyte Fryares within the cloister in a little yard or court, being without the liberties of Lond., whereby he hoped for the greater gain." In Dekker's Westward ii. 2, Birdlime says, "The student has his nun in W." In Middleton's Chess ii. 1, the Black Knight says, "Here's [letters] from Blanche and Bridget from their safe sanctuary in W." In his Black Book, he speaks of "the dice running as false as the drabs in W." In Brome's Couple ii. 1, Careless, having got hold of some money, says, "I need no more insconsing now in Ram Alley nor in the sanctuary of W." In Glapthorne's Wit iv. 1, Busie says, "A sedan shall carry them unseen through the watch at Ludgate into W.; there you shall find a little Levite "to marry the couple. In Davenport's New Trick i. 2, Slightall, wanting a lady of pleasure, bids Roger go and search several localities of bad reputation, including "White Fryers." In Eastward v. 4, one of the prisoners says of Quicksilver: "He will discourse admirably of running horses, and White Friars, and against bawds and of cocks." In Jonson's Volpone iv. 1, when Sir Politick says, "The gentleman is of worth and of our nation," his Lady rejoins, "Ay, your W. nation; Come, I blush for you, Master Would-be." In his Prologue to Epicoene, Jonson says of his play: "Some [of it is fit] for lords, knights, and squires; Some for your men and daughters of W." In his Epigram xii., he calls Lieut. Shift "meanest among squires That haunt . . . W." Middleton, in Hubburd, p. 79, says, "Our young prodigal steps into W. Nunnery, where he kept his drab."

WHITEFRIARS DOCK

A landing place for boats at the bottom of Water Lane, now W. St., about where the Sion College Library now stands on the Thames Embankment. In Brome's Covent G. i. 1, Madge says, "I lay not long ago at the Venice by W. D."

WHITEFRIARS THEATRE


Plays seem to have been performed as early as 1580 in the old Refectory of the Carmelite Monastery, which stood on the E. of Bouverie St. just N. of George Yard, where now are the offices of the Daily News. There is no evidence that any of the regular companies played there before 1607, when the children of the King's Revels are recorded to have acted at W.; they were dispersed in 1609, and their place was taken in 1610 by the Children of the Queen's Revels, who performed Jonson's Epicoene in March of that year, Ben himself taking the part of Morose. Other plays staged there were Tailor's Hog Hath Lost (1613); Field's Weathercock (1612); Chapman's Bussy D'Ambois, his Revenge and Widow's Tears; Marston's Insatiate; B. & F. Coxcomb, Pestle, and Cupid's Rev. The Hall ceased to be used for plays by 1616; and its place was not taken for 15 years–and that was by the new theatre in Salisbury Court (q.v.). In Lady Mother ii. 1, Crackby says, "This boy doth sing as like the boy at the Whitefryers as ever I heard."

WHITE GREYHOUND

A bookseller's sign in St. Paul's Churchyard, Lond. Venus and Adonis was "Imprinted by Richd. Field and are to be sold at the sign of the w. G. in Paules Churchyard. 1593." Lucr. was published at the same place in 1594.

WHITEHALL

The palace of the Kings of England from Henry VIII to William III. It lay on the left bank of the Thames, and extended from nearly the point where Westminster Bdge. now crosses the river to Scotland Yard, and from the river back to St. James's Park. Hubert de Burgh had a palace here in the reign of Henry II, and left it in 1240 to the Black Friars; they soon after sold it to the Archbp. of York, and it remained the town house of the Archbps. of York, under the name of York House (or Place), until the time of Cardinal Wolsey. He greatly improved and enlarged it, but on his disgrace it was transferred to the K. in 1530. The Westminster Palace having been recently severely damaged by fire, Henry took York House as his Palace and gave it the name of W. He added to it considerably, and put two gates across the road which led through the grounds from Charing Cross to Westminster, one, nobly designed by Holbein, near the S.Western corner of the present Banqueting Hall, the other, known as the King St. Gate, where Richmond St. debouches into W. Both were removed in the 18th cent. as obstructing the traffic. Elizabeth carried out further improvements, including a Banqueting Hall. This (and much more of the Palace) was destroyed by fire in 1619, and James I planned to have the whole rebuilt on a magnificent scale by Inigo Jones; all that he completed, however, was the Banqueting Hall, the only part of the Palace now remaining. From one of its windows, or from an aperture broken through for the purpose, Charles I was led to execution. The Court of Charles II was located in the Palace, and during his reign it was the centre of fashion. In 1698 a disastrous fire swept away almost the whole of the buildings. It was never rebuilt, and all that is now left is Inigo Jones's Banqueting Hall, which was converted by George I into a Chapel Royal, though it was never consecrated, and is now used as the United Service Museum.

From the dramatic point of view W. is chiefly interesting for the series of Court Masques produced there in the 17th cent. Already plays had been acted there before Q. Elizabeth e.g. Damon and Pythias in 1564; but in the reign of James masques were performed almost every year, amongst them Jonson's Blackness (1605), Beauty (1608), Queens (1609), and Oberon (1611). The splendid series in connection with the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth in 1613 included Chapman's Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn, Beaumont's Inner Temple Masque, and Campion's Lords' Masque. Jonson's Augurs was the first to be played in the Hall rebuilt after the fire by Inigo Jones. In 1634 was produced Shirley's Triumph of Peace, "the most magnificent pageant ever, perhaps, exhibited in England." These plays were usually presented in the Banqueting Hall.

James I began to use the Cock-Pit in the N.E. corner of the palace for this purpose, and Charles I, about 1632, had it made by Inigo Jones into a small theatre, which was known as the Cockpit [ed. note: more appropriately the "Cockpit-in-Court"] and must not be confused with the Cockpit in Drury Lane [ed. note: the Drury Lane playhouse was open to the public and built in 1617]. It [ed. note: the "Cockpit-in-Court"] was destroyed in the fire of 1698.

Deloney, in Newberie vi., tells how Wolsey "sent for the clothiers afore him to W., his new-built house by Westminster." In H8 iv. 1, 97, the 1st Gentleman says, "You must no more call it York-Place, that's past; For, since the Cardinal fell, that title's lost; 'Tis now the K.'s and called W." The date of the scene is 1533. In Armin's Moreclacke B. 4, a Messenger brings word: "The Court goes from Richmond to W." Jonson, in Vulcan, commemorates the fire of 1619–" Nay, let W. with revels have to do, Though but in dances, it shall know his power; There was a judgment seen too in an hour." In Middleton's Chaste Maid i. 1, Yellowhammer says, "Honour and Faithful servant! they are compliments for the worthies of W. or Greenwich." In Scot. Presb. ii. 1, Moneyless says, "The K. must not yet see W.; Cromwell won't have it so." In verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities, Peacham mentions amongst the sights of Lond. "the White Hall whale bones." On the "lucus a non lucendo" principle, coal-ships were dubbed "W. men" because they were black. In Devonshire ii. 1, the Capt. says, "The W. men did good service; 4000 bullets their ordnance and the Hollanders discharged upon the castle." There were 10 of these coal-ships in the attack on Puntal.

WHITE HART (Tavern)

A tavern sign in Lond. The most famous W. H. was in the Borough of Southwark, on the E. side near the S. end of the High St. It had the largest sign in Lond., except that of the Castle in Fleet St. It was Jack Cade's head-quarters in 1450. Fabyan, in his Chronicles, says, "On July 1st 1450, Jack Cade arrived in Southwark, where he lodged at the H." In the Chronicle of the Grey Friars, it is related, in connection with Cade's rebellion. "At the Whyte H. in Southwarke one Hawaydyne of St. Martin's was beheaded." In H6 B. iv. 3, 25, Cade says, "Hath my sword therefore broke through Lond. gates that you should leave me at the W. H. in Southwark?" The old Inn was burnt down in 1676 and rebuilt; in July 1889 it was pulled down. The later W. H. is chiefly memorable for the discovery there of Sam Weller by Mr. Pickwick. There was another W. H. in Bishopsgate St. Without, next to St. Botolph's Ch. It was pulled down in 1829, but W. H. Court still preserves the name. There was another in the Strand, which has left its name in H. St., Covent Garden. In the list of Taverns in T. Heywood's Lucrece ii. 5, we have "The huntsmen to the W. H. go." It is impossible to say which of them is intended.

WHITE HART (Printer's shop)

The sign of a printer's shop in Fleet St., Lond., near St. Dunstan's. A quarto of M.N.D. was published "for Thomas Fisher and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the W. H. in Fleet st. 1600."

WHITE HORSE (Tavern)

A common tavern sign in Lond. There was a W. H. in Friday St. much frequented by George Peele; another outside Cripplegate; and a third in Southwark. In Peele's jests, we are told: "George was invited one night to supper at the W. H. in Friday St." In the opening of Old Wives, Fantastic says, "I had even as lif the chamberlain of the W. H. had called me up to bed." Taylor, in Carriers Cosmography, says, "The Carrier of Lincoln do lodge at the W. H. without Cripplegate." In True and Wonderful (1614), appeal is made for the truth of the story to "the carrier of Horsam who lieth at the W. H. in Southwark."

WHITE HORSE (Bookseller)

A bookseller's sign in St. Paul's Churchyard, Lond. Merry Devil was "Printed by Henry Ballard for Arthur Johnson dwelling at the sign of the w.-h. in Paules Churchyard over against the great N. door of Paules. 1608." Middleton's Phoenix was "Printed by E. A. for A. I. and are to be sold at the sign of the W. H. in Pauls churchyard. 1607."

WHITE LION (Tavern)

Originally a tavern but converted about 1560 into a prison for the county of Surrey. It stood in the Borough High St., Southwark, at the S. end of St. Margaret's Hill, near St. George's Ch. It became unfit for its purpose towards the end of the 18th cent, and in 1811 the New Marshalsea was built on its site. In Henslowe's Diary 192, the author tells us how he lent 5/- to Francis Henslow "to discharge himself out of the W. L." In T. Heywood's Ed. IV B., Jane Shore asks, "Have you bestowed our small benevolence On the poor prisoners in the common gaol Of the W. L. and the King's Bench?" This is an anachronism, as the prison was not in existence in the reign of Edward IV. Taylor, in Works i. 91, says, "The ocean that Suretyship sails in is the spacious Marshalsea; sometimes she anchors at the King's Bench, sometimes at the W. L. creek." In Works ii. 138, he speaks of "the common prison of Surrey called the W. L."

WHITE LION (Bookseller)

A bookseller's sign in St. Paul's churchyard, Lond. An edition of the Shepherds Kalender (not Spenser's, but a translation of Le Compost et Kalendrier des Bergers) was "printed at Lond. by G. Elde for Thomas Adams dwelling in Paules Church-yard at the sign of the W. L. 1604." B. & F. Maid's Trag. was "printed for Francis Constable and are to be sold at the W. L. in Pauls churchyard. 1622." Nabbes' C. Garden was "printed by Richd. Dalton for Charles Greene and are to be sold at the sign of the W. L. in Paul's Churchyard. 1638."

WHITE LION AND BALL

A bookseller's sign in Paul's Churchyard, Lond. Nabbes' Spring was "printed by J. Dawson and are to be sold at the sign of the W. L. & B. in St. Paul's churchyard. 1639."

WHITTINGTON'S COLLEGE

A set of alms-houses in Lond., built by Sir Richard Whittington, on the N. side of St. Michael's Paternoster Royal, on the E. side of College Hill, which runs S. from Cannon St. to Upper Thames St. to the E. of Queen St. Provision was made for 13 poor men and the necessary officials. In 1808 the Mercers' School was transferred to this site and the College was removed to Archway Road, Highgate. In T. Heywood's I.K.M. B., Nowell says of Sir Richd.: "His executors after him did build Whittington College, 13 almshouses for poor men." In Eastward iv. 4, Touchstone says to Golding: "I hope to see thee one of the monuments of our city, to be remembered when the famous fable of Whittington and his puss shall be forgotten, and thou and thy acts become the posies for Hospitals." In Dekker's Bellman, Whittington's College is used as thieves' slang for Newgate, which had been rebuilt and enlarged by Sir Richd. about 1425.

WIGHT, ISLE OF

A small island in the English Channel off the coast of Hants., of which it now forms a part. It is 23 m. long and 13 broad. From the time of Henry VII its government has been in the hands of a Captain, or Governor; but the office is now purely honorary. In T. Heywood's Ed. IV A., there is a stage direction: "Enter the Capt. of the Ile of W. with Faulconbridge bound." This is an anticipation; during the reign of Edward IV the Governor of the island was entitled the Lord of W.; the last holder of the title was Lord Rivers, who was beheaded by Richd. III. In Dekker's Westward iii. 3, Justiniano gives a wrong explanation of the phrase "Winchester goose "as follows: "The term lying in Winchester and many Frenchwomen coming out of the I. of W. thither (though the I. of W. could not of long time neither endure foxes nor lawyers, yet it could brook the more dreadful cockatrice) there were many punks in the town" (but see under WINCHESTER HOUSE). In Brome's New Academy v. 1, Hardy says, "I'th' I. of W. he had embarked himself "[for France]. Donne, in Satires ii. 78, says, "He'll compass all the land from Scots to W." Deloney, in Craft ii. 7, "Within short time after, the Frenchmen had landed in the Ile of W. about 2000 men of war." This was in 1545.

WIGMORE

A castle in Herefordsh, 20 m. N. of Hereford, near the Shropshire boundary. It was one of the Castles of the Lords Marchers (the Mortimers, and, through them, the House of York) commanding the valleys of the Lugg and the Teme. It was in the neighbourhood of W. that Owen Glendower took the Earl of March prisoner in 1402. In Mirror for Magistrates 298, Glendower says, "In W.-land through battle rigourous I caught the right heir of the crowned house, The Earl of March, Sir Edmund Mortimer." Drayton, in Barons' Wars iii. 43, says of Mortimer: "He weighs not wealth, nor yet his W. left." In Marlowe's Ed. II ii. 2, Young Mortimer says, "W. shall fly, to set my uncle free "i.e. "I will sell W. to raise troops for freeing my uncle" (the Earl of March).

WIGTON

A maritime county in the S.West of Scotland. In Greene's James IV iv. 3, Slipper asks, "Shall I wed Sisley of the Whighton?"

WILMECOT

The home of Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden, whose ancestral home is still to be seen there. It is in Warwicksh., 2 or 3 m. N.West of Stratford. [ed. note: in the year 2000 research discovered that the site formerly known as "Glebe Farm" was in fact Mary Arden's home in Wilmecot. The house previously identified as Mary Arden's was in fact that of one Adam Palmer, a close friend of the family. The Palmer home, it was discovered, was built in two stages in 1569 and 1580 (far too late to be Mary Arden's childhood home: Shakespeare was born five years before the house was begun). The Palmer house (mistaken as the Arden home) was purchased by the Shakespeare trust in 1930. It was further discovered in 2000 that the original wood framework of Mary Arden's childhood home (heretofore "Glebe Farm") dates to at least 1514. The 18th century antiquarian and guide, John Jordan, was probably responsible for first misidentifying the Palmer house as Mary Arden's home. The actual Mary Arden house was purchased by happy accident in 1957, when the Shakespeare trust moved to keep the old house from being demolished (with a view towards incorporating it into the tourist attraction of the house then thought to be Mary Arden's home.)] By some W. has been identified with the Wincot mentioned in Shrew Ind. 2, 23, but without good reason. See under WINCOT.

WILTON

An ancient town in Wilts. on the Willey, 3 m. West of Salisbury. Here is W. House, the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke, where Sir Philip Sidney wrote his Arcadia. In Death Huntington i. 2, Salisbury says, "[Her] nurse at W. first thou ravished." Daniel, in Ep. Dedic. to his Cleopatra, addressed to Mary, Countess of Pembroke, says, "By them [i.e. these poems] great Lady, you shall then be known When W. shall lie level with the ground." John, Lord Grey of W., is the leader of the English at the siege of Leith in Sampson's Vow.

WILTSHIRE

A county in the S.West of England. It includes the famous Salisbury Plain with the great Druidical Circle known as Stonehenge. It gave their title to the Earls of W. In Middleton's Quarrel v. 1, Trim speaks of "the Hanging-Stones of W.," i.e. Stonehenge (see HANGING STONES). In King and Queen's Entertainment at Richmond, Tom says, "Goodman Minstrel, strike up, play us W. Tom's Delight ": evidently some popular tune. In Marlowe's Ed. II i. 1, Mortimer says, "W. hath men enough to save our heads." In iii. 2, the K. says to Spencer: "I here create thee Earl of W." The patent, however, was never issued, and Spencer never really held the title. The 1st Earl was William le Scrope, created in 1397; beheaded at Bristol in 1399. In R2 ii. 1, 215, Richd. sends Bushy to the Earl of W. to bid him repair to Ely House. In line 256, Ross complains: "The Earl of W. hath the realm in farm." In ii. 2, 136, Green brings word that the Earl is already at Bristol. In iii. 2, 122, Richd. asks after his welfare, and is told of his death; and the gardener gives the Q. the same news in iii. 4, 53. In H6 C. i. 1, 14, Montague boasts, showing his bloody sword, "Brother, here's the Earl of W.'s blood Whom I encountered as the battles joined," i.e. at the 1st battle of St. Alban's. This was James Butler, son of the Earl of Ormond, created Earl of W. in 1449. He fought at St. Alban's, but was not killed there; he was attainted and beheaded in 1461. The title is now merged in the Marquessate of Winchester.

WINCHESTER

One of the oldest cities in England, the county town of Hampshire, on the right bank of the Itchin, 62 m. West of Lond. The British name was Caer Gwent; the Romans called it Belgarum, which in the Saxon times became Wente-ceaster; the legal Latin form is Wintonia. It was the capital of the West Saxon kings and, when Egbert became K. of England, he still retained it as his royal residence. William the Conqueror built 2 castles, one on the E. and the other on the West of the city; and it kept its position as a seat of the Court through the Norman period. Henry II resided there for the most part, and rebuilt the Palace; but after his death its glory declined, and Lond. took its place. The chapel of the Castle is still used as a Court of Assize, and over the Judges' Bench is hung what is alleged to be the Round Table of King Arthur and his Knights; and by many authorities W. is identified with Camelot, the capital of Arthur (see CAMELOT). W. was a centre of trade in wool and textiles during the 13th and 14th cents.; and its 4 annual Fairs were widely famous. W. Gauge or Measure became a synonym for good measure, full and running over. The road between Lond. and W. was much used, and its muddy condition became proverbial.

In Merlin iv. 5, Merlin prophesies of Arthur: "It shall be then the best of knighthood's honour At W. to fill his castle-hall And at his royal table sit and feast." In iii. 6, 134, Aurelius says, "We'll hence to W. and raise more powers To man with strength the castle Camilot." In Eastward v. 1, Syndefy says, "They were knights of the Round Table at W. that sought adventures." In Brewer's Lovesick King i. 1, the K. says, "This city W. is all our strength "; and the scene of the play is mostly laid there. In Dekker's Westward iii. 3, Justiniano wrongly explains the term "W. Goose "by a story of an alleged incident, "the term then lying at W. "; but see under W. HOUSE. In Piers C. vii. 211, Covetousness tells how he went "to Wy and to Winchestre to the faire "; and in xiv. 52, we are told of merchants that "wenden on way as to Wynchestre faire." Skelton, in Elynor Rummin, says, "Full W. guage We had in that age." In Webster's Cuckold iv. 1, Pettifog says, "She deposes that she gave him true W. measure." In Sharpham's Fleire ii. 39, Fleire promises his customers "Measure by your own yard, you shall have W. measure." Middleton, in Hubburd, says, "His breeches were full as deep as the middle of winter, or the roadway between Lond. and W." In Verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities, Holland says of the author: "Whence, a young cockrel, he was sent for knowledge To W., and planted in the College."

The Bp. of W. who appears in Davenport's Matilda was Sir Peter de Rupibus (1205–1238), who was also Chief justice of England. In Bale's Johan 1359, Wealth says in reference to the Papal Interdict: "the bp. of W. Hath full authority to spread it in Ynglond here." This is a bad guess on Bale's part; the Bp. was on the K.'s side. The Bp. who makes a brief appearance in Marlowe's Ed. II v. 1 and a was John de Stratford, Chancellor and Lord Treasurer of England. The W. of H6 A. and H6 B. was Henry Beaufort, Cardinal and. Chancellor, 3rd son of John of Gaunt (1406–1447) (see under BEAUFORT). He also appears in Day's B. Beggar; in i. 1, Bedford says of him: "W. hath neither grace nor shame "; and Canby says to him: "And ye were able to give him as much land as would lie between W. and Walsingham, he would be your prigger." In More iii. 2, one Jack Fawkner is introduced who claims to be the servant of "M. Morris, secretary to my Lord of W."; and says that the riot for which he has been arrested was "between the Bps.' men of Eelie and W." This was Bp. Fox, Lord Privy Seal (1500–1528). The W. of H8 iii. iv. and v. was Stephen Gardiner, who was appointed in 1531 and deprived in 1550; restored in 1553, and died in 1555. He is also one of the characters in Cromwell, and appears in Webster's Wyat, where Wyat says of him: "My Lord of W. still thirsts for blood." Milton wrote an Epitaph on the Marchioness of W., beginning "This rich marble doth inter The honoured wife of W." She was Jane, wife of John Paulett, 5th Marquis of W., and died in 1631.

WINCHESTER HOUSE

The London Palace of the Bps. of W., built in 1107 by Bp. William Giffard and occupied by successive Bps. until the death of Lancelot Andrewes in 1626. After his death it was used for a time as a prison, and was sold in 1647 to one Thomas Walker. It was restored to the Bp. in 1660; but in 1663 it was let in tenements and the park dismantled. It was destroyed by fire in 1814, and its site is now occupied by warehouses and other business premises. It stood immediately West of the ch. of St. Mary Overy on the Bankside, Southwark, and had its chief frontage towards the river, to which access was given by a landing place called W. Stairs. To the S. and West it was surrounded by a park, the name of which survives in Park St. It is a prominent feature in the views of Wyngrerde and Vischer, in which last it is shown as a Gothic Hall, running E. and West, with a lantern in the centre. The Bankside with its notorious Stews was in the liberties of the Bp.; hence arose the slang name of W. goose or pigeon for a prostitute, and also for the venereal disease. In the foreword to I. Temple, it is stated that "The Masquers with their attendants set forth from W. H., which was the rendez-vous, towards the Court." Howes, describing the same Masque, says, "These masquers took barge at W. Stairs, and rowed to Whitehall against the tide."

In H6 A. i. 3, 53, Gloucester cries to the Bp.: "W. goose, I cry, a rope, a rope!" In Troil. v. 10, 55, Pandar, addressing the audience, says, "My fear is this, Some galled goose of W. would hiss." Taylor, in Works i. 105, says, "There's a goose that breeds at W. and of all geese my mind is least to her." In Webster's Cuckold iv. 1, Pettifog says, "This informer comes into Turnbull st. to a victualling house and there falls in a league with a wench and there got a goose; she deposes that she gave him true W. measure." Jonson, in Vulcan, speaks of "the Winchestrian goose Bred on the Bank in time of popery, Where Venus there maintained the mystery." In Chapman's D'Olive iv. 2, D'Olive says, "The Court is the only school of good education, especially for pages and waiting-women; Paris or Padua or the famous school of England called W. (famous I mean for the goose) where scholars wear petticoats so long till their pen and ink-horns knock against their knees; all these are but belfries to the body or school of the Court." There is here an allusion to William of Wykeham's famous school. In Bacchus, we read of a youth who "carried a water-wagtail ready to fly at the fairest goose in W." In Penn. Parl., it is said: "Those who play fast and loose with women's apron-strings may chance make a journey for a W. pigeon." In Nomenclator (1585), we are told: "A sore in the groin . . . if it come by lechery, is called a W. goose, or a botch." See also under WINCHESTER.

WINCOT

A vill. in the N. of Gloucestersh. in the parish of Quinton, some 5 or 6 m. S. of Stratford-on-Avon. All that is now left of it is a single farm-house. In the registers of Quinton Ch. is an entry of the baptism of Sara Hacket, daughter of Robert Hacket, on Nov. 21st, 1591. In Shrew Ind., 2, 23, Sly says, "Ask Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of W., if she know me not." On the strength of Sir Aston Cockain's lines (1658) addressed to Mr. Clement Fisher who lived at Wilnecote, spelled W. by Sir Aston, Shakespeare's W. has been identified with Wilnecot. He says, "Shakespeare your W. ale hath much renowned," and goes on to speak of the Sly incident in the Ind. to Shrew. It lies abt. 30 m. N. of Stratford on Watling St., a little S. of Tamworth. Others with still less probability have identified W. with Wilmecot and Woncot (q.v.).

WINDHAM

More often spelled WYNDHAM or WYMONDHAM. A town in Norfolk, 10 m. S.West of Norwich. It was the starting point of Ket's rebellion in the reign of Edward VI. It had 3 fairs a year: in February, May, and September. In Day's B. Beggar iv., Strowd says, "There were a sort of tumblers at Windham fair Last year, and they have made it so stale in Norfolk and Suffolk that every wench is turned tumbler."

WINDMILL [1]

A famous tavern at the corner of Old Jewry and Lothbury, in Lond. Originally a Jewish synagogue, it was transferred to the Fratres de Sacca on the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1291. It then passed in succession to Robert Fitxwater (1305); Robert Lange (Lord Mayor in 1439); and Hugh Clopton (Lord Mayor in 1492). It became a tavern at the beginning of the 16th cent., and in 1522 was able to supply 14 feather-beds, and stabling for 20 horses. Fuller, in Church History iii. 13, 33, says of the Jews: "After their expulsion, their synagogue was turned into the Convent of the Friars of the Sack, or De Poenitentia Jesu; and after their suppression it became successively the house, first of a lord, then of a merchant, since of any man for his money; being turned into a tavern with the sign of the W.; a proper sign to express the moveableness of that place, which, with several gales of success, hath been turned about from so many owners and to so many uses." In T. Heywood's I.K.M. B. 282, Tawniecoat, coming from the Stocks market, says, "Sure this is the lane; there's the W." In Jonson's Ev. Man I. i. 1, young Wellbred addresses his letter to young Knowell "from the W."; and begins it: "Why hast thou forsworn all thy friends i' the Old Jewry?" In iv. 6, Formal takes Brainworm "to the W.; there we shall have a cup of neat grist, we call it"; and in v. 3, Brainworm says that the newly-married couple "are ready to bespeak their wedding supper at the W." In the list of Taverns in News Barthol. Fair, we have "The W. in Lothbury." There was also a W. tavern in St. George's Fields (q.v.). In H4 B. iii. 2, 208, Shallow says to Falstaff: "O Sir John, do you remember since we lay all night in the W. in St. George's field?"

WINDMILL [2]

The sign of a tavern in Foy. In T. Heywood's Maid of West A. i. 4, Spencer says to Bess: "I have a house in Foy, a tavern called the W.; that I freely give thee." Parts of Acts ii. and iii. take place there.

WINDMILLS

Certain windmills erected in the reign of Elizabeth in Finsbury Fields, Lond, on a piece of ground where 1,000 cartloads of bones from the charnel house of St. Paul's had been buried in 1549; it was afterwards used for the interment of criminals who had been hanged. The W. stood somewhere near the N.West corner of the present Finsbury Sq. In Stucley 616, Blurt says of Jack Dudley: "He's in Finsbury gaol for hurting a man behind the w. last Saturday." In Middleton's Quarrel iv. 1, Chough says, "I have heard 'em roar from the six w. to Islington." In Shirley's Wedding iv. 3, a man, speaking at Finsbury, says, "I see nothing but 5 or 6 w.!" The road past them was called Windmill Hill. In Middleton's Hubburd, p. 96, the soldier, who has gone to Finsbury Fields to beg, says, "Looking down Wind a I might espy a fine-fashioned dame."

WINDSOR–more exactly, NEW WINDSOR

A town in Berks. on the S. bank of the Thames, 21 m. S.West of Lond. A bdge. connects it with Eton on the other side of the river. Old W. lies abt. 2 m. S.E. of the Castle, and was a favourite residence of the Saxon kings. There was, however, a fortress at New W., where the Round Tower now stands; and William the Conqueror surrounded it with a stone wall. Henry III built the first Round Tower of the Castle, and it was reconstructed by Edward III and finally raised to its present height by George IV. From the time of Henry I. the Castle, which stands on a hill E. of the town, has been the chief residence of the English sovereigns. Edward III carried out extensive works there under the direction of William of Wykeham; and in the time of Richd. II Chaucer was Clerk of the Works. The Chapel of St. George, founded by Edward III for the Knights of the Garter, was rebuilt, much in its present form, by Edward IV. Henry VII added to the buildings, and Elizabeth began the Terraces which are so striking a feature of the Castle. It was greatly improved and largely rebuilt by Sir Jeffry Wyattville in the reign of George IV. It is surrounded by the Little Park, some 18 m. in circuit; beyond this to the west is W. Forest, connected with the Castle by the famous Long Walk; it contains many magnificent oaks, and is well stocked with deer.

The scene of M.W.W. is laid at W., and Shakespeare shows an intimate knowledge of the locality. There are references to the Garter Inn, Frogmore, Datchett Mead, the Thames, Reading, Maidenhead, Colebrook, Herne's Oak, Eton, and Brentford; for which see under the respective names. In ii. 2, 62, Quickly refers to the time "when the Court lay at W." In iii. 1, 5, Simple says he has looked "the pittie-ward, the park-ward, every way; Old W. way and every way but the town way "(see Pittie Ward). In iii. 3, 230, Page says he would not have Ford's distemper "for the wealth of W. Castle." In iv. 3, 29, Herne is said to have been "sometime a keeper here in W. forest." In v. 5, 1, Falstaff says, "The W. bell hath struck 12," i.e. the Castle clock. In line 14, he says, "I am here, a W.stag." In line 60, Quickly says, "Search W. Castle, elves, within and out." In Middleton's R.G. v. 2, Greene says, "Lambeth joins more mad matches than your six wet towns 'twixt that and W. Bdge "; probably Fulham, Richmond, Kingston, Hampton, Chertsey, and Staines are the towns intended. In Brome's Sparagas iii. 11, Rebecca says, "I do long to go to W. to know if the prophecy be as true there as 'tis reported here, that all old women shall die." In Deloney's Reading xi, Jarman, the murderous innkeeper of Colebrook, "soon after was taken in W. Forest."

In Davenport's Matilda ii. 1, the boy says, "I have heard of W. Castle; my father told me there are brave bows and arrows and drums there "; and the scene of iii. 1 is laid at W. Castle. In Death Huntington iii. 9 the K. says, "You shall stay in W. Castle with Sir Walter Blount." In Greene's Friar vi., Bungay says, "Lacy, the Earl of Lincoln, is late fled from W. Court." The scenes of R2 ii. 2 and v. 6 are laid at W. Castle.

In H4 A. i. 1, 104, the K. says, "On Wednesday next our Council will we hold At W." In S. Rowley's When You L. 3, K. Henry VIII says to the Emperor Charles V: "Your Majesty shall take the order [sc. of the Garter] And sit installed therewith in W. Castle." In True Trag., p. 127, it is predicted of Henry VIII that he shall be "buried in W." He was buried in St. George's Chapel by his own wish, next to his Q., Jane Seymour. The only sovereign previously buried there was Edward IV. The iron grille of Edward's tomb still remains, but there is no trace of Henry's. In Mayne's s Match iii. 1, Plotwell mentions W. Castle as a popular show-place that attracted large crowds. Amongst the curiosities preserved there was a so-called Unicorn's Horn, brought home by Frobisher after his 2nd voyage; it was 2 yards long, and was probably the horn of a narwhale. In verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities, Peacham mentions amongst the sights of England "The horn of W. (of a Unicorn very likely)." In Nabbes' Bride iii. 2, Ferret says, "He would gladly part with all that he hath for the Unicorn's horn at W." Jonson's Gipsies was performed at W. Castle in August 1621, and amongst the characters are "all the good wenches of W.: Prue of the Park, Frances of the Castle, Long Meg of Eaton, and Christian of Dorney." One of the scenes in Carew's Coelum Britannicum is "a prospect of W. Castle." In H4 B. ii. 1, 100, the Hostess says to Falstaff: "The Prince broke thy head for liking his father to a singing-man of W. "; i.e. one of the singers in the royal chapel of St. George.

In Fair Em. ii. 2, William the Conqueror masquerades as Sir Robert of W. The 6th son of Edward I, who died young, was known as William of W. In H6 B. ii. 2, 17, York says, "William of W. was the 7th and last"; i.e. of Edward's sons. In this Shakespeare follows Holinshed, who mistakenly makes Thomas of Woodstock the 6th and William of W. the 7th son. Henry VI was born at W. In H6 A. iii. 1, 199, Exeter quotes a prophecy "that Henry born at Monmouth should win all, and Henry born at W. lose all." In Puritan ii. 1, the Widow speaks of "the prophecy in the Chronicle . . . Harry of Monmouth won all, and Harry of W. lost all." Hall quotes Henry V as saying "I Henry, born at Monmouth, shall small time reign and much get, and Henry, born at W, shall long reign and all lose." The Lord W. mentioned in Stucley 153 was Edward, 3rd Baron W. of Stanwell; the title has nothing to do with the place W., but was the surname of the 1st Baron.

Pensions and apartments in the Castle were granted to a certain number of military men in necessitous circumstances, who were known as "the poor knights of W." In Middleton's Mad World ii. 2, Sir Bounteous says, "I was knighted at Westminster, but many of these nights will make me a knight of W." In Eastward iv. 2, one of the gentlemen says to Sir Peter: "A poor knight of England! A poor knight of W. are you not!" Middleton, in Hubburd, p. 104, says, "One of the poor knights of Poetry, worse by odds than one of the poor knights of W." In Shirley's C. Maid iii. 1, the servant says, "You'll not look [in those clothes] like a poor knight of W." In his Pleasure v. 1, Bornwell says he will go to the wars "and, if the bullets favour me to snatch any superfluous limb, when I return, with good friends I despair not to be enrolled poor knight of W." In Middleton's Chess iii. 1, the Fat Bp. says he has been made "Dean of the poor alms-knights that wear badges." He (Spalato) was made Dean of W. by James I.

WINGFIELD

The name of 2 vills. in Derbysh, distinguished as N. and S. W. S. Wingfield lies on the Amber, 14 m. N. of Derby. It possesses the ruins of a fine castellated manor-house built in the 15th cent. by Ralph Cromwell and resided in for a time by the captive Mary Q. of Scots. In H6 A. iv. 7, 66, one of Lord Talbot's titles is "Lord Cromwell of W."

WINGHAM

A vill. in Kent, 7 m. E. of Canterbury, on the road to Sandwich. It has an ancient ch. and some interesting half-timbered houses. In H6 B. iv. 2, 24, Holland sees among Jack Cade's followers "Best's son, the tanner of W."

WINIFRED'S WELL (SAINT)

A spring in the neighbourhood of Holywell in the county of Flint, N. Wales; it lies on the West side of the estuary of the Dee some 6 m. N.West of Flint. It was said to have risen from the blood of St. Winifred, a Christian maiden who was ravished and beheaded here in the 7th century by a certain Prince Cradocus or Caradoc; he was swallowed up alive by the earth, but the virgin's head was re-united to her body, and she lived for 15 years afterwards. The Well was enclosed in a chapel from early times; the present shrine was built by Henry VII. It contained images of the Virgin Mary and the Saint; but both have disappeared. It was a famous place of pilgrimage, and many cures were alleged to have been wrought by its waters.

The story of St. Winifred is told at length in Deloney's Craft. In the preface he says, "Round this well did grow a kind of moss, which is of a most sweet savour, and the colour thereof is as fresh in Winter as in Summer." W. Rowley, in Shoemaker i. 3, tells the story of the origin of the well, and an Angel, appearing from it, declares that it shall have power to cure lepers, and to heal the blind and lame; but he transfers Winifred to the latter part of the 3rd cent., and makes her perish with her lover, Sir Hugh, at St. Alban's in the Dioclesian persecution. In J. Heywood's Four PP. i. 1, the Palmer claims to have been "at Saynt Wynefrede's W. in Wales." In Munday's John Kent ii., Cumber says, "They at St. Winifrides fair hallowed spring Went with the Countess." In Brome's M. Beggars ii. 1, Hilliard proposes to the company "a pilgrimage to St. Winifride's W." Taylor, in Works i. 33, says, "St. W. W., the Bath, or the Spaw, are not to be compared with this ship [the Sleeper] for speedy ease and cure." Nash, in Lenten, says that springs can be obtained in Norfolk "as apt and accomodated as St. W. W. so much praised and sought after." Drayton, in Polyolb. iv. 197, calls it "The sacred Virgin's Well," and says that the moss from it was used in pomanders as a precaution against "infectious damps."

WINNO'S, SAINT

Saint Winno, or Winnoc, was a Flemish Abbot and saint of the 8th cent.; I have not been able to find any ch. dedicated to him anywhere in or near Lond.; possibly the ch. is as fictitious as the rest of the butler's story. In Wilkins' Enforced Marriage iv. 1, the butler says of the supposed robbers: "They took over the lawns and left Winno steeple on the left hand."

WITHAM

An ancient town in Essex on the Brain, 9 m. N.E. of Chelmsford. It is said to have been founded by Edward the Elder on the site of an old Roman station. Half a mile from W. itself is Little W., on Chipping Hill. In J. Heywood's Weather, p. 100, W. is mentioned as one of the places visited by Merry Report. In Wilson's Pedler 48 1, the Pedler says, "At Little W. 7 years I went to school and there I learnt the science of Morosophie."

WITNEY

An ancient town in Oxfordsh., 11 m. West of Oxford. It had a considerable trade in blankets and woollens; waggon-loads of blankets were sent to Lond. every week to be sold there. The W. singers of the quotation were, I suppose, the itinerant vendors of W. blankets. In Chaunticleers iv., Heath says, "The W. singers are but chattering magpies to this melodious nightingale."

WITTENBERG

A town in Saxony on the Elbe, 55 m. S.West of Berlin. It had a famous University, founded in 1502 and incorporated with the University of Halle in 18l7. The buildings are now transformed into a military barracks. The town owes its chief celebrity to its connection with Luther and the Reformation. The Augustinian Monastery in which he lived is still partly preserved and is used as a Luther Museum. The Schloss-kirche, to the doors of which he affixed his 95 theses in 1517, was much damaged by fire in 1760, and has been rebuilt, the old wooden doors being replaced by bronze ones, on which the theses are inscribed. The tombs of Luther and Melancthon are in this ch. Luther was appointed Professor in the University in 1508; and Dr. Faustus was believed to have been a student there. In Ham. i. 2, 113, the K. says that Hamlet's "intent In going back to school [i.e. to the University] in W." is contrary to his own desire; and in 119, the Q. prays him "Go not to W." From 164 and 168 we learn that Horatio has also been a student at W. All this is extreme anachronism; but such a matter was not even a mote to trouble the mind's eye of the Poet. In Marlowe's Faustus Prol. 313, we are told of Faust: "Of riper years to W. he went," and that he took his Doctor's Degree there in Divinity. In the 1st edition it is printed "Wertenberg "; but this is a mere slip in spelling, as the Faust-Buch shows. In Milkmaids ii. 2, Dorigene says of Bernard: "I hope he did not spend his time so ill in the University of W." In Chettle's Hoffman C. 1, Jerom says, "I am no fool, I have been at W. where wit grows." In Dekker's Shoemaker's i. 1, Lincoln says of his nephew Roland: "My jolly coz became a shoemaker in W."

WODSTOCK

See WOODSTOCK.

WOLF

The sign of a house in Cheapside, Lond. In Wilkins' Enforced Marriage iv. 2, the butler says, "I am now going to their place of residence, situate in the choicest place in the city, and at the sign of the Wolf, just against Goldsmiths-Row."

WOLGHA

See VOLGA.

WOLPIT, or WOOLPIT

A vill. in Suffolk, 3 m. E. of Bury St. Edmund's. An image of the Virgin Mary, which stood there, had some local repute. In Poverty, p. 315, Envy says, "Hence, whoreson! By our Lady of Wolpit I shall rap thee of the pate."

WONCOT, or WOODMANCOTE

A vill. in the N. of Gloucestersh., 3 m. West of Winchcombe. In H4 B. v. 1, 42, Davy says, "I beseech you, Sir, to countenance William Visor of W. against Clement Perkes of the hill." The hill is still the local name for Stinchcombe Hill, which rises above the vill. to the height of 915 ft. A family of Visors, or Vizards, was living there until recent years; and the Perkes, or Purchas, family was there until 1812. Some have identified the Wincot in Shrew Ind. 2, 23 with W., and in some editions it is so spelt; but this is quite wrong. See under WINCOT.

WOODKIRK, or WOODCHURCH

A vill. in West Riding Yorksh., on the road from Leeds to Dewsbury. There was a monastery there, which was a cell of Nostell Priory and was founded about 1100. The Towneley M. P. were acted by the Guilds of Wakefield at the Fair held at Woodkirk by the Canons of Nostell at the feast of the Assumption.

WOOD'S CLOSE

Possibly the same as WOOD'S or WOOD GREEN. A vill. abt. 31/2 m. N. of Islington, just beyond Hornsey. In T. Heywood's Royal King iv., the Clown says, "Away, betake you to the end of the town; let me find you between Wood's Close and Islington."

WOODSTOCK

An ancient town in Oxfordsh. on the Glyme, 8 m. N.West of Oxford. The old Manor-house was a royal residence as early as the time of Alfred the Great. It was a favourite retreat of Henry I, and it was here that Henry II used to meet Rosamund Clifford, whom he is said to have concealed in the heart of a kind of maze. Thomas, D. of Gloucester, the youngest son of Edward III, was born here. The chief manufacture of the town is gloves. In T. Heywood's Ed. IV B., the Q. says, "There was once a k., Henry the second, who did keep his leman Caged up at W. in a labyrinth." In Skelton's Magnificence, fol. xiv., Crafty Conveyance swears "by the rood of Wodstocke Park." In H6 B. ii. 2, 16, York speaks of "Thomas of W., D. of Gloucester "; he calls him the 6th son of Edward III, following Holinshed; but William of Windsor was really the 6th and Thomas the 7th son. In R2 i. 2, 1, Gaunt says, "Alas, the part I had in W.'s blood Doth more solicit me than your exclaims." This is the reading of the Qq; the Ff have "Glouster's." W. plays a prominent part in Trag. Richd. II., where his kidnapping and murder at Calais are fully described. See under GLOUCESTER.

WOOD STREET

Lond., running N. from Cheapside between Cutter Lane and Milk St. Probably it derived its name from the article sold there, like most of the streets running off Cheapside; cf. Bread St., Milk St., etc. At the S.West corner of W. St. and Cheapside was the Ch. of St. Peter in Cheap, on the site of which grew the tree immortalised by Wordsworth. A little higher up on the E. side was the Compter, or Counter (q.v.). At the corner of Hugin Lane is the Ch. of St. Michael; and at the corner of Love Lane on the E. side that of St. Alban. The Cheapside Cross stood opposite the end of W. St.

Taylor, in Works ii. 239, says, "They have set up a Cross post in Cheapside on Sundays near W.-st. end, which makes the coaches rattle further from the Ch." Peacham, in Worth of a Penny, p. 1, mentions that the lodging of the Ambassador of the K. of Morocco was in W. St. In Curtain Drawer of the World (16l2), it is mentioned that the well-known strong man from High Germany (for whom see under GERMANY) lived in W. St. Gascoigne, in Steel Glass 791, speaks of young roisterers who are sent "To read Arithmetic once every day In W.-st., Bread-st., and in Poultery, Where such schoolmasters keep their counting-house "; i.e. the Counter. In W. Rowley's New Wonder iv., Speedwell says, "I love tobacco, but would be loth to drink in W.-st. pipes." In Dekker's Westward iii. 1, Tenterhook says to his wife: "Buy a link and meet me at the Counter in W.-st." In Middleton's Michaelmas ii. 3, Shortyard speaks of "the a city hazards, Poultry and Wood-st." In his Phoenix iv. 3, the Officer says, "In London stand 2 most famous Universities, Poultry and W.-st, where some have taken all their degrees from the Master's side down to the Mistress' side, the Hole." In his R.G. iii. 3, Wengrave says, "Sir Davy, send your son to W.-st. College, A gentleman can nowhere get more knowledge." In W. Rowley's Match Mid. ii. 2, when Alexander says that the Lieutenant was a serjeant first, Tim asks, "Of the Poultry, or of W.-st.?" In Sharpham's Fleire iv. 160, Ruffel tells of a serjeant and a yeoman who have been put out to nurse "at the Counter in W.-st." Liberality was "printed by Simon Stafford for George Vincent and are to be sold at the sign of the Hand-in-Hand in W.-st. over against S. Michael's Ch. 1602." Wilkins' Enforced Marriage was published by Vincent at the same place in 1607.

WOOKEY HOLE

A cavern at Wookey, a vill. in Somersetsh., 2 m. West of Wells. The Axe rises in this cavern; and prehistoric remains have been found in it. In Middleton's Quarrel v. 1, Chough speaks of "W. H. in Somersetsh." as one of the places he went through on his way from Cornwall to Lond.

WOOLSACK

A tavern in Lond., without Aldgate, famous for its pies. In Jonson's Alchemist v. 1, Subtle says to Dapper: "Her Grace would have you eat no more W. pies, no Dagger frumety." In his Devil i. 1, Iniquity says, "We will put in at Custom-house key there And see how the factors and prentices play there False with their masters, and geld many a full pack, To spend it in pies at the Dagger and W." There was another W., in Ivy Lane. In Dekker's Shoemaker's iv. 5, Firk says, "A mess of shoemakers meet at the W. in Ivy Lane."

WOOLSTAPLE

The central woolstaple for England was established in Westminster in 1353. All wool sent out from Lond. had to be brought there for registration and to pay duty. The site of the W. was on the N. of New Palace Yard, where Bridge St. now runs. It was divided into 2 parts, the long and the round. In Jonson's Staple iii. 2, Mrs. Tattle enumerates the places where she seeks for the latest news: "The conduits in Westminster, all the news of Tuttle St., and both the Alm'ries, the two Sanctuaries, long and round W., with King's st. and Canon-Row to boot." Taylor, in Works ii. 225, tells of a soldier who "dwelt lately in Westminster, in the round W."

WOOLWICH

A town in Kent on the S. bank of the Thames, 8 m. E. of Lond. and 35 from the Nore Light at the mouth of the river The importance of the town dates from the foundation of the Royal Dockyard by Henry VIII about 1515. The Royal Arsenal was removed there from Moorfields in 1716 and became of great importance during the Napoleonic wars. In Jonson's Volpone ii. 1, Peregrine tells how a whale was "discovered in the river as high as W." This occurred in January 1605. Act ii. 2 of Fair Women is laid at W. In line 163, Barnes, speaking of Saunders, who is at Lond., says, "I hope at afternoon a pair of oars May bring him down to W." In line 209, Old John says, "I dreamed that I heard the bells of Barking as plain to our town of W. as if I had lain in the steeple." In line 177, Beane says that the reach "between Blackwall and W." is the most dangerous part of the journey to Lond.

WORCESTER

The county town of Worcestersh., on the E. bank of the Severn, 102 m. N.West of Lond. The great glory of the city is the Cathedral, begun by Bp. Wulfstan soon after the Conquest, and completed in 1216. It was very thoroughly repaired in 1857. It contains the tombs of K. John and of Prince Arthur, elder brother of Henry VIII. The Castle, which stood S. of the Cathedral, has entirely disappeared. There seems to have been a regular play-house at W. as early as the reign of Henry VIII. One of the companies of actors mentioned by Henslowe was the Earl of W.'s. This was Edward Somerset, who died in 1628. Thomas Nabbes, the dramatist, was a W. man. In the Consistory Court of W., under date November 28th, 1582, 2 husbandmen of Stratford, Sandells and Richardson, became sureties to free the Bp. from liability in case of any lawful impediment to the marriage of "William Shagspeare and Anne Hathwey." This probably, though not certainly, refers to the great dramatist's marriage, which took place in 1582.

In K.J. v. 7, 99, Prince Henry says of John: "At W. must his body be interred, For so he willed it." In H4 A. iv. 1, 125, Vernon says of Glendower: "I learned in W., as I rode along, He cannot draw his power this 14 days." The Earl of W. who appears in R2 as breaking his staff of office and joining Bolingbroke, and who subsequently is the leading spirit in the revolt of the Percies against the K. in H4, and is spoken of by Westmoreland, in H4 A. i. 1, 96, as "W., Malevolent to you [the King] in all aspects," was Thomas Percy, younger brother of Henry, Earl of Northumberland; he was created Earl in 1397, taken prisoner and beheaded at Shrewsbury in 1402. He was the first and last of his family to hold the title. Cromwell defeated Charles II and his army of Scots at W. on Sept. 3rd, 1651. Milton, in Sonnet to Cromwell 9, says, "Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud And W.'s laureat wreath." In Cowley's Cutter [ed. note The Guardian] 1, 5, Cutter boasts that he has served the K. "everywhere; and the last time at W." In Jonson's Barthol. iii. 1, Nightingale sings a ballad beginning: "At Worc'ster 'tis known well, and even in the jail, A knight of good worship did there show his face Against the foul sinners, in zeal for to raid, And lost ipso facto his purse in the place."

WORCESTERSHIRE

One of the midland counties of England, lying between Shropsh., Stafford, Hereford, Gloucester, and Warwick. The salt works at Droitwich go back to old Roman times, and were still important in the days of Elizabeth. In a song entitled "The Cries of Rome "appended to T. Heywood's Lucrece, we have "Salt-Salt-white Worstershire salt!" According to Old Meg, p. 1, W. was famous "for Bag-pypes."

WORLD

Another name for the GLOBE THEATRE (q.v.), the sign of which was Hercules carrying the world on his shoulders. Jonson, in Vulcan, describes the burning of the Globe in 1613 and says, "See the World's ruins; nothing but the piles Left, and wit since to cover it with tiles."

WORLD'S END

The sign of a tavern in Spring Gardens, Knightsbridge, Lond. The Gardens lay S. of Knightsbridge, at the N. end of what is now Lowndes Sq., nearly opposite the Albert Gate of Hyde Park. Pepys more than once mentions carouses he had there. There was another W. E. tavern in King's Rd., Chelsea, just West of Battersea Bridge; the sign is still retained at 459 King's Rd. In both cases the name indicated the distance of the tavern from Lond. In T. Heywood's Lucrece ii. 5, Valerius sings in his list of taverns: "The banquerout [goes] to the W. E."

WORMS

The ancient Borbetomagus, a city now in Hesse-Darmstadt, once a sovereign Bishopric; on the Rhine, 28 m. S. of Mainz. It was for a time the residence of Charlemagne, and many Diets of the Holy Roman Empire were held there, the most famous being that of 1521, when Luther appeared before Charles V. in Ham. iv. 3, 20, Hamlet says of the dead Polonius: "A certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet." There can be little doubt that there is a reference to the Diet of 1521

WORTLEY

A vill. in West Riding Yorks., about 10 m. N. of Sheffield. There is also a W., a suburb of Leeds; but the former is the one intended in the quotation. In Downfall Huntington i. 3, Little John says, "At Rowford, Sowtham, W., Hothersfield, Of all your cattle money shall be made, And I at Mansfield will attend your coming."

WOXFORD

I have not been able to find any such place; perhaps the name is invented for the sake of the rhyme. Possibly it may be meant for Wixford, a town 2 m. S. of Alcester in Warwickshire; or Yoxford (q.v.). In T. Heywood's Hogsdon iv. 1, Sir Boniface says, "Natus eram in Woxford; and I proceeded in Oxford."

WREXHAM, WRICKSOM, or RIXAM

A town in Denbighsh., N. Wales, on a tributary of the Dee, 11 m. S.West of Chester. The ch. was built in 1470, and its tower, 135 ft. in height, and reckoned one of the 7 wonders of Wales, was completed in 1500. The first ch. organ in Wales was erected in W. Ch., and was an object of great pride to the Welsh people. It was unfortunately destroyed by the Puritans in the Civil War. Fynes Moryson, in Itin. iii. 3, 3c4.3, sap that the town W. is "beautified with a most fair tower, called the Holy Tower, and commended for the musical organs in the ch." In T. Heywood's Royal King i., the Welshman says, "It was told us in Wales that you have great pigge organ in Pauls and pigger by a great deal than our organ at Rixam." In Jonson's Wales, Howell sings of "our louder W. organ." In B. & F. Pilgrim iv. 3, a Welsh madman says, "The organs at Rixum were made by revelations; there is a spirit blows and blows the bellows." In W. Rowley's Shoemaker iii. 2, 184, Barnaby, with amusing disregard of his supposed date (A.D. 297), speaks of "the great organ at Wricksom."

WROTHAM, or WROOTHAM

A vill. in Kent, 11 m. N. West of Maidstone. It has a fine old ch., and the ruins of the old palace of the Archbps. of Canterbury still remain. In Oldcastle, the parish priest, who has turned highwayman and goes about robbing travellers, accompanied by his Doll, is Sir John of W. In iv. 1, he says, "I have but one parsonage, W.; 'tis better than the Bishoprick of Rochester "; and he goes on: "W: Hill pays me tithe"–through the travellers he waylays there; it was on the road between Lond. and Maidstone. This worthy parson was a real person, and was imprisoned in Newgate in 1418.

WYAN

See GUIENNE.

WYE

A river rising on the S. side of Plinlimmon in S. Wales, and flowing through Herefordsh. and between Monmouth and Gloucester shires to fall into the estuary of the Severn just below Chepstow. The scenery of the valley of the W. is specially beautiful. In H4 A. iii. 1, 65, Glendower boasts: "Thrice from the banks of W. And sandy-bottomed Severn have I sent him [K. Henry] Bootless home." In H5 iv. 7, 29, Fluellen Says, "There is a river in Macedon; and there is also moreover a river at Monmouth; it is called W. at Monmouth." In line iii, he says to the K.: "All the water in W. cannot wash your Majesty's Welsh plood out of your pody." In Death Huntington ii. 2, young Bruce speaks of "the Lord of the March that lies on W., Lug, and the Severn streams." Drayton, in Polyolb. vii. 196, says that the W. "right her name to show, Oft windeth in her way, as back she meant to go." .

WYLSDOME

Now WELLESDEN. A suburb of Lond., now a well-known railway junction. It was formerly a small vill., lying 7 m. N. West of St. Paul's. Then was an image of the Virgin Mary there which was much visited by pilgrims. Along with several other such images, it was brought to Chelsea and burnt in 1538. In J. Heywood's Four PP. i. 1, the Palmer claims to have been "at Wylsdome."

WYTHAM

See WITHAM.